The Unfortunate Son of a Lunatic, year two
by I Swear I'm Not A Werewolf
Summary: After the extraordinary events the previous year, Rose Weasley is heading back to Hogwarts with her three best friends. However, two of her friends have split from the group to investigate unusual happenings involving the lake and the beasts within. Max is trusted with the secret, but Rose is left in the dirt. What are they hiding? Why don't they trust her? And what is Sugamina?
1. Closer

"Ron, I don't know what we're going to do." Said Hermione late one night.

"About Rose?" he asked while pulling straw from a brightly colored blazer.

"It's just… I'm worried Ron! What she did last year was so dangerous! I was excited for her, to be going to school but now… now I don't think it wise to… to…"

"You want to Homeschool?"

Hermione didn't respond. Ron dropped the blazer and turned to his wife.

"Look," he said. "I understand how you're feeling… Not only did she become friendly with a Malfoy, but she gets involved with this kid who leads her from Hogwarts where they both nearly died under the wand of the Belladonna Drury."

Hermione winced at the name.

"But listen, we can't hold her back now. In her defense, she never meant to leave, she was trying to keep her friend from making the wrong choice and was pulled in."

"But she never even told us about the letter!" Hermione exclaimed. "A ransom! A real ransom!"

"Did you ever tell your parents about all that had happened to us at Hogwarts?"

"Of course I didn't! But this is different, my parents were muggles, they wouldn't have understood."

"They would have understood better than you're letting on." Said Ron. "You didn't tell them because you were afraid that they'd pull you out of school."

"But what about Hugo?" Hermione asked desperately.

"What about him?"

"He's going to Hogwarts soon and I'm worried that he'll get involved too! He's always so quick to jump into dangerous things that he knows little of because it'll make a story, or better yet, ' _No one told me not to._ '"

"You're not worried about Rose…" said Ron slowly. "You're worried about Max…"

Hermione didn't say anything again.

"Sweetheart, you very well know that you can't force Rose to stay away from him. He's her best friend."

"But this was his fault." She said quietly. "If Rose had never met him, then she would have never met Bel-" she took a deep breath. "Belladonna Drury."

"If you had never met Harry then you may never have met you-know-who." Said Ron.

"Voldemort." Said Hermione sternly.

"Right… I know you're worried, but you can't pull her out of school because of this, much like you wouldn't have wanted your parents to pull you out of school for what you did. And you can't keep Hugo from school either just because of what Rose did."

"Can't I…?"

"No." said Ron sternly. "You are not going to Hogwarts with them."

"Not with them." Hermione pleaded. "I'd be a Professor."

"Hermione, if my mom or dad had come to Hogwarts as a Professor, I would have crawled in my sock drawer and died of humiliation. These kids need their space. They need to grow to become their own person and figure out who they are without their parents hoovering above them, watching every move they make. You're going to let Rose and Hugo go to Hogwarts as a free person, do you understand?"

Hermione's eyebrows traveled up her head threateningly, but Ron stood his ground. She sighed.

"Honey," said Ron, placing a hand on her face. "They're going to be okay."

"You can't guarantee that."

"I can't guarantee anything when it comes to our kids." Said Ron. "I can't guarantee that they're going to wake up every morning, but that's not going to stop me from letting them sleep. I can't guarantee that they won't choke on their food one day, but that's not going to stop me from letting them eat. I can't guarantee that they're not going to get into mischief at school, but that's not going to stop me from letting them go. We need to let them go, just a little."

Rose Weasley pulled her ear away from her parent's door. She stood there for a moment in the dark and took a deep breath. She was going to go! She was going to go for her second year! She had been so afraid that what she had done the previous year was bad enough to keep her from being allowed to go to Hogwarts.

Last year had been spent with her three best friends, Scorpius Malfoy, Maddox Everard, and Albus Potter, though Al was her cousin. They had snuck around the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry a bit. They had explored secrets gardens and had played Quidditch on brooms. They had taken magical classes and done their homework, they didn't make bad marks either. Everything was going quite well, until an unexpected occurrence had arisen in the form, of a ransom note.

Her best friend and fellow Gryffindor, Max, had apparently had a brother who had been kidnaped by his abusive mother, Belladonna Drury, when he and his twin had only been seven. Belladonna had sent a ransom to Max within their last month at Hogwarts, telling him to meet her, and she would release his brother. Though Max's friends had protested against it, all trying to give him different options, Max was stubborn and headstrong. He had taken Belladonna on her offer and through an unfortunate set of events, Rose Weasley had been reluctantly dragged along and she herself had met Belladonna Drury. What this woman had wanted had ended up being a draft that she herself had implanted in Max at birth. This draft had special healing powers and could save Belladonna from her illness. Though the way she had attempted to extract it, had been terrible. They were saved by the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts who had come to their rescue. Unfortunately, Max's brother, Will, was did not escape. He had been taken again by Belladonna as she had fled. Both Rose and Max had been taken back to the school with terrible injuries, but none so bad that the Matron couldn't mend.

Of course, the Headmaster had written to both their parents about the event and the first two weeks back home were the worst Rose could remember. Lecture upon lecture, threat upon threat about not letting her go back for her second year. Not only did she let an earful from her parents, but from each and every person in her extensive family line. All of her Aunts and Uncles, even her cousins. Fred and Roxanne, the – mischievous duo – had even been very displeased and frightened about what their little cousin had gotten herself into.

Even Al had gotten scorned. He had not been dragged along on their trip to meet Belladonna, but he had been involved in the whole circumstance, known about the ransom letter and had even broke out of his dormitory with his best friend and fellow Slytherin, Scorpius Malfoy, after hours to catch Max who was trying to make a run for it.

The worst of being back home though, wasn't the long talks and fearful glances every time Hogwarts was mentioned, but it was the privet talks her parents would have about Max. They obviously thought that he was a very bad example on Rose, which may have been true. Rose would make it a nightly routine to, at nine o'clock every night when her mom was just getting out of the shower, tiptoe downstairs and press an ear to her parent's door, listening to new advancements in their thought to allow her to go to school.

This was the last one, it was one week until the first term at Hogwarts and she was going! Thank you dad!

She and her brother Hugo, who would be starting his first year at Hogwarts in one week, were to head to Diagon Alley to pick up their school supplies within the next week, most likely tomorrow because her dad was off work. Rose tiptoed back upstairs as quiet as she could, if her parents found out that she had been listening every night, it may ruin her chances. Her three friends had stayed in touch over the summer. Al, of course because he wasn't but a few miles away and they had enchanted hand mirrors which enabled them to speak to each other. Scorpius always wrote really long letters even for a really short reply. But his letters had become so neat and cursive that Rose actually had a rough time trying to riddle out his slanted writing. Though no matter how his words appeared on paper, he always singed the bottom with an 'S' that so resembled a 'G'. She and Al had started calling him Gorpius.

Rose heard a soft pecking at her window and her heart leapt as it always did at this noise. She through open her bedroom window to welcome an owl in. The bird dropped a letter on her desk for her, and after stroking its feathers and feeding it a bit of a forgotten tart from breakfast, she ushered it to wait on her bed. To the muggle family next door, a twelve-year-old girl nightly welcoming owls into her bedroom would seem completely peculiar. Well, that would just be because they knew nothing about her world, the Wizarding world. To a non-magic person, so called muggles, everything that happened in this almost all magical neighborhood would seem odd wouldn't it? But Rose knew perfectly well that post arriving by bird was as ordinary as post arriving by mailman to her neighbors. The mailman for one thing probably finds this neighborhood to be as odd as the muggle family of six do, theirs being the only house that he ever had to deliver to.

Rose returned to the letter that the owl had dropped on her desk and flipped it over to find Max's cat scratch like handwriting on the back. She tore it open read the, just as short as usual, line.

 _'_ _Anything new?'_

He never was one for writing, but she had become used to this. At first, she had thought that his letters were so short because he really didn't want to talk to her, but then Scorpius and Al had assured her that her letters from Max were nearly twice as long as theirs. He had been asking this same question for weeks now, _Anything new?_ She knew that he was scared to death that she wasn't going to come back to Hogwarts because of what he had drug her into. She knew that he would never forgive himself. He blamed himself for how their year turned out, for Rose's broken leg and for his friends getting into trouble. But Rose didn't blame him. He had gone through much more that year than any of them had. He was face to face with his abusive mother who he had been on the run from for four years, he went through extraction, and he lost his brother for a second time, and only being eleven.

Rose grabbed her quill and parchment and scribbled back.

"I'm going! Just heard, I think my dad has finally convinced my mom! They're nervous though… Get your dad to bring you to Diagon Alley tomorrow around noon. Scorpius is coming too. See you then!

 **-Rosebud.** "

She folded, addressed, and gave it to the owl to take in his beak.

"You know who this belongs to." She whispered before releasing the bird into the warm summer air.

Rose laid back on her pillow and breathed again. She was going…

She woke the next morning to a light pecking at the window and welcomed in the very same, extremely tired looking owl. It had a small sliver of paper clasped in its beak which bore the words.

' _Done, and good morning Miss. Rosebud._ '

Rose took the owl in her arms and brought it downstairs for breakfast. Her father was drinking coffee as usual, more of a dessert than a beverage. Hermione was reading, as usual, and her little brother Hugo, his red hair lopsided and curly, was positively bouncing with anticipation.

"We're going to Diagon Alley today, Rose!" Hugo whispered excitedly, gripping her nightdress.

Diagon Alley was a wizarding shopping street where every child dreams of going when they turn eleven. Hermione glanced at Rose over her book and said,

"Breakfast is in the oven, dear. And I would get dressed, we're going to Diagon Alley around noon today for Hugo's things, and yours."

Rose supposed that was her way of giving Rose closer.

She took the pancakes from the oven and made herself a plate.

"Rose?" asked Hermione. "Whose owl is that?"

She had forgotten that she had left Max's owl on the table and it was now dipping its beak into Hugo's orange juice.

"Uh…" She was about to say Max, but decided otherwise. "Scorpius'." She replied.

"Why don't you send it home then?" Hermione took the owl gently and tossed it from the window. "We're taking floo powder to get to Diagon Alley." She said with a wary sideways glance at Rose who had avoided floo travel ever sense that night she met Belladonna.

Rose had been accidentally consumed by the green flames as they had engulfed Max. She had broken her leg terribly and couldn't travel this way without having flashbacks of that night. It seemed that Hermione was trying to break this fear of hers. Rose looked up to find both her mom and dad, and Hugo all looking at her worriedly.

"Yeah," she smiled. "floo, that's the fasted way to get there."

Noon arrived and Rose and her brother were getting into their soot robes because floo travel can be messy depending on if the fireplace had been cleaned recently or not.

"Hermione," said Ron. "You first."

She took a handful of powder from a vase atop the mantel piece, and backed into the overly large fireplace.

"Diagon Alley!" she shouted before a rush of green flame spiraled up her legs and she vanished.

Rose winced slightly at the flames as they vanished once more. She felt this horrible stomach feeling and thought she was going to be sick.

"Hugo." Said Ron holding out the vase for Hugo to grab a handful and back into the fireplace as well.

"Diagon Alley!" he called as if this wasn't dangerous at all. A rush of green flame engulfed him, and he was gone.

"Rose?" said her dad much more timidly.

She took a deep breath and reached her hand into the vase as normal as she once upon a time had. Rose backed into the fireplace and looked at her dad watching her with concern.

"Diagon Alley!" she called suddenly and with a trembling voice, thinking that she best get it over with. A terrible feeling of warmth rose up her legs and through her body. The color green surrounded her and she felt as though she was being sucked to Hell. She spun in circles and a roaring was in her ears. Suddenly, and without warning, a flash of red light was blasted into memory, a terrible, agonizing scream ripped through the roaring wind and a memory of pain shot through her leg. Rose screamed as the events of last year spun by her head that she had fought to push away. She glimpsed an old, broken down house and the silhouette of a scrawny boy. She saw a person fly through the air and she saw a face, a face that she had tried to forget over the summer, the face of Belladonna Drury, leering at her from the darkness. " _You rat_!" she heard a cold, hard voice shriek from nowhere and the words echoed around her.

Suddenly, she stopped spinning, and her feet met hard ground. She opened her eyes and found that she was in Flourish and Blotts book store fireplace. Her mother and brother were standing there waiting for her and her mom gasped when seeing Rose. For a moment Rose didn't know what the concern was for. Hermione rushed over and pulled her from the fireplace, then she stroked Rose's cheeks and pulled her hand back revealing a glisten of water on her finger tips. Rose rubbed her own face and found that it was wet with tears that she didn't remember crying. Hermione pulled her close and Ron appeared from the fireplace a moment later.


	2. Gorpius Nearly Breaks His Nose

Hermione pulled Rose from the book store and knelt down in the busy street.

"Sweetheart?" Hermione whispered. "You don't have to go."

"Go where?" she asked worriedly.

"I know what's bothering you dear, you cry in your sleep. You don't have to go back to school if you think it would be too much on you."

"No." said Rose a little too aggressively. She knew that Hermione wasn't as much asking her, then pleading with her. "I'll be fine mom," she said more calmly. "I'll be fine."

A thunder clap sounded just as Rose could have sworn her name was called. She squinted through the dark, rainy day to see a silhouette running at her through the fog. She recognized the slightly awkward run and pulled from her mother's arms to meet her cousin Al.

He was grinning broadly and Rose ruffled his already messy black hair. He had green eyes and looked like a miniature, non-glasses wearing, version of his father, Harry Potter.

"Where's Harry and Ginny?" asked Hermione meeting up with them.

"They're heading this way." Al smiled. "We've just finished at the Apothecary and now we're coming for our books."

"Look what I've found!" he said excitedly, mainly to Rose. Al turned around his eyebrows furrowed. "Where'd he go…? Oi!"

Another silhouette began making its way toward them, difficult to see through the witches and wizards bustling through the crowd. But as the figure grew closer, there was no mistaking that indigo hair and confident stride.

"Max!" she shouted before jumping at him. When she hugged him however, she found that her head didn't meet his head anymore. She pulled away to find that her ear only met his chest. In surprise, she backed up to find that Max was nearly a head taller and was visibly broader. But his features remained the same, he still had a strong jaw and defined characteristics.

He was grinning at her and grabbed the bottom of her hair. "Its gotten longer." He said, and she was startled to find that even his voice was deeper.

Rose turned back to her mom who was watching them and quickly and unconvincingly smiled at him. Rose found herself becoming uncomfortable and Max faltered when reaching for Hermione's hand.

"Nice to see you again Mrs. Granger-Weasley." He stammered, his confidence slowly decreasing.

"Just Weasley, Maddox." She said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

This was hard to watch. Last year, her folks had really liked Max, he had even spent the Holiday with them and received a Weasley jumper. But ever since everyone found out what had happened during the last week of term, they had all pinned the whole situation on Max. Though Rose could understand why everyone blamed him, she didn't. He smiled awkwardly and turned back to Al who also seemed uncomfortable.

"Max!" Hugo shouted, running up to him and giving him a fist bump.

Max smiled at this warmer welcome and ruffled Hugo's hair.

"Its gotten longer now, kid." Said Max.

"Who are you calling _kid_?" Hugo asked puffing himself up. "I am now entering Hogwarts, where dwell the tall in stature and strong in mind!"

"Who fed you that nonsense?" Max laughed.

"I did."

Max's purple eyes widened and he turned to see Ron standing behind with Harry.

"Mr. Weasley." He breathed, trying to regain himself. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Why wouldn't I be here, with my family?" said Ron calmly, but there was something in his voice that sounded contradictory and threatening.

"No, I mean-" Max stammered. "I was just-"

"Can we head on to Madam Malkin's for our robe fittings?" asked Rose quickly.

"Whose _we_?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"Me, Al, and… and Max?" she responded hopefully.

Hermione took a deep breath. "I really don't think that's a very good idea. You guys could get lost and it looks like it's about to rain."

"That's alright Aunt Hermione!" said a confidant voice from behind them. Rose turned to see her cousin James, Al's older brother who was starting his third year at Hogwarts, striding up to throw an arm around Max and Al's necks. "I'll go with them. We'll be back before you're done shopping." And he stirred them away into the mist and the lightly falling rain.

"Are you guys daft?" asked James, removing his arm from around their neck and striding in front of them. "You can't go asking for freedom after what you did, especially to be asking to go with him." He jabbed a thumb at Max. "No offence man."

Max bowed his head. They were having difficulty seeing through the mist and the bustling crowd jostling them to and from. Rose tripped over a person and stood back up apologizing before she realizing that she had tripped over a manikin.

"I think you should apologize again, Rose." Laughed James. "I don't think it heard you properly, I hear manikins hold grudges."

They were in front of Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions.

"Look," said James, turning them toward him. "If our folks ask, we got separated because of the fog, alright?"

The friends nodded. "I'm going to see Tyler, he's at Flourean Fortesue's Ice Cream Parlor. Don't go getting into trouble because everyone will end up blaming it on this guy." He slapped Max on the back before disappearing into the mist.

Rose glanced around the street to see if any of her family had seen James leave. Then she decided that it would be difficult to see anything through this rain that was falling heavier now. Wand tips were sprouting up to form a small shield over the witches and wizard's heads as they hurried down the cobbled stone path and pass old shops with orange lit windows.

The three of them entered the robe shop. It was small and warm, slightly dusty but homed a strong sent of cologne. Two kids were standing on pedestals, an elderly witch bustling back and forth with pins in her mouth, hemming up their robes. Three chairs lined the wall beside the door and two parents were already sitting in them. Rose shook some of the water off of herself before starting about the room and trying to remember how they had ordered her robes last year.

"Rose, you go first." Said Max, leaning against the wall so to leave the third seat open to a very pregnant witch who had just entered with a first year boy.

"Rosebud?" came a very familiar, very pleasant voice. There were only two people she knew that called her that, Max and… "Scorpius!" she exclaimed when the taller of the two kids on pedestals turned around. Scorpius had white blonde hair that hung loosely in his face, grayish blue eyes and had always been tall. But over the summer he seemed to have grown the same distance in height as Max had. Scorpius, had a strong jaw, nose and chin that seemed to have defined themselves. Max had grown broader, but Scorpius was still mostly lanky.

"You mean Gorpius." Al corrected, beaming and starting toward his best friend.

Rose ran over and hugged him around the middle, her ear only meeting his stomach. Scorpius, however, remained as stiff as a bored with his arms out at his sides. "Hey!" he said excitedly. "I would hug back but she swats my hand if I move." He gestured to the elderly witch hemming up the first boy's robes. "Al!" Scorpius dared to lean over and fist bump Al and Max.

"How long have you been here?" Rose asked as the elderly witch ushered her onto a third pedestal and threw an overly large black robe over her shoulders.

"Like a half hour." Scorpius groaned. "There was a huge line, you just missed the rush.

The witch measured Rose up and down and began pinning the robes. Rose looked at Scorpius again, she just hoped that he only seemed as tall as he did because he was on a pedestal, because she hadn't grown at all. It _had_ only been three months. The process was long, but Scorpius and the first boy had finished and Al and Max were taking their spots.

"Where are your parents?" asked Al as the witch was measuring between his legs making him uncomfortable.

"They're in Knockturn Alley." He replied casually.

The others looked at him for a moment. Scorpius caught their wary eye and smiled. "It's not what you think." He smiled. "They're buying poison candles to kill the gnats it our basement. They didn't want me to come along, so they sent me here."

Knockturn Alley was a very dodgy strip that housed only cruel, disgusting, or dangerous items for cruel, disgusting, and dangerous people. Nothing good ever happened in Knockturn Alley.

"They're heading to Flourish and Blott's book story after that." Said Scorpius. "I reckon they're already there."

"So are our folks." Said Al. "I wonder if they're going to run into each other."

Max was finished before Rose surprisingly, and finally after she was allowed off the pedestal with an armful of new robes, she looked up slowly to assess the damage. Scorpius and Max were standing directly on either side of her, both discussing Al's robe size and teasing him for being short. Both her friends seemed like giant compared to last year.

"I feel short." She mumbled.

Scorpius stopped talking and looked down at her. "That's because you are." He smiled. "Don't give me that look, short is just fine. You don't have to always stand in the back for photos."

They left the shop and were startled to find that rain was pouring as though the Heavens were crying. The three of them didn't have their wands to use as umbrellas. Rose pulled her soot robe from inside her bag and slipped the hood over her head. The others didn't have any protection from the whipping wind at all. All along the streets were shop owners pulling their merchandize from store front and into the safety of their doors. The kids were whipped around by the wind and a steady flow of water were drenching their ankles. The street was almost empty now because of the people who had entered shops to wait out the storm. Rose suggested very loudly over the wind, that she thinks it would be best to find their parents, but she couldn't remember where Flourish and Blott's was in proximity to Madam Malkin's; she had only been to this alley a couple times before, but she knew it wasn't far.

They decided to head to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, knowing that was were James was and that it was most likely the closest shop to them. A very large group of people were looming nearer from the pouring rain as they headed to the Ice Cream Parlor and Rose grabbed Al by the arm and pulled him away. These people were very dodgy looking, some with misshaped faces and long, dragon like fingernails, others looking oily and dressed in scraps of rag all smelling like sick. They passed and Rose took a deep breath as the smell passed. Something didn't feel right, "Where's Gorpius?" she asked looking around.

"Hey!" she heard a distant shout. "Got off, you lot smell of dead rats!" Rose hurried away from her friends to see with horror, a tall, lanky silhouette of a boy fighting desperately to get through the crowd that was pushing him forward and into a narrow alley way which bore a sign above the entrance with words that you could not mistake said anything else then ' _Knockturn Alley._ '

Max pushed forward and was the first to make his way after their friend. Rose and Al followed quickly and all three of them pushed and shoved, all holding their breath, through the group of people. Rose supposed that it was okay being short, she was easily able to slip under the arms of the warlocks and witches who all seemed to hiss as they were jostled about.

"Scorpius!" called Al as they neared him.

The crowd began to thin as a few of its occupants entered some of the nasty shops. But the majority of them, all pushed the four friends into a dark shop as they entered. Finally, they were free and peered around where they were. Many old and dusty tables and shelves littered the room, nasty looking items were displayed in glass cases and candle light illuminated the cobweb covered walls and the store smelled of death and rancid meat. Rose looked through the dirty windows to read the sign above the shop, ' _Borgin and Burkes_.' Her eyes scanned the room and fell upon an old vanishing cabinet, jewelry, and what looked to be spare body parts floating in mason jars.

"Guys?" she whispered. "Guys, I think we should get out of here?"

She turned to find that her friends were not behind her. All three boys were staring around the room in awe. Max split to poke at a shriveled hand on a pedestal and Scorpius and Al had just begun a sword fight using what looked to be two long, spirally horns.

"Are you nuts?" she scorned, jerking the horns from their hands. "These are 72 Galleons each! No!" she hissed before slapping Max's hand away from the mouth of a gorilla head. "Come on!" she took Her cousin and Max by the sleeve and began ushering them from the shop.

"But Rose," pleaded Scorpius. "This is the most interesting shop I've ever seen!"

"Yeah, and 75% of the items in here will kill you if you touch it."

She pulled them from the store and back into the furious storm. "Come on." They began up the street again, this time, much more difficultly due to the uphill slope and the rushing water.

"Ow! Merlin's bloody beard!" Scorpius staggered backward, holding a bloody nose in his hands from where a shop door had hit it.

The couple who had just flung open the door to a shop called ' _Poisonous Candles_ ,' turned around quickly.

"I'm so sorry, young man! Are you alright?" said the woman, squinting through the rain. And with a stroke of horror, Rose recognized this couple as Draco and Astoria Malfoy, Scorpius' parents.

"He's fine, thanks." Said Max, gripping Scor under the arms and dragging him away. Rose wondered whether or not Max had known who they were.

Al did. Rose saw him dare to peak behind him to see the Malfoys now walking in the same direction as them and gaining quickly. Al opened a random shop door and pushed everyone through. Scorpius was holding his possibly broken nose as the other three gagged from the horrible, rotting smell which lingered in this shop.

 _This alley sucks._ Rose thought.

"Merlin's beard, Scor!" exclaimed Al quietly. "Look at yourself."

"I can't." said Scorpius irritably and with his eyes closed. "I'll vomit if I see blood, you know that."

"Let's just get you a tissue." Said Max, grabbing Scor by the arm and leading him forward.

"Can I get a volunteer?" said a detached voice from inside the crowd of people gathered in the middle of the store. Rose looked around as Max and Al searched for some sort of tissue or rag. Hundreds of heads, all with their mouths sewn tight, sat on the shelves, peering down at them. It was a horrible sight and she started to feel sick.

"Dang, I should do this professionally!" came a voice from inside the crowd that sounded oddly familiar.

Rose pushed through to find a large cauldron, bubbling and smoking. In front of the cauldron… was James and Tyler. Tyler, a tall, broad boy with blonde hair and a wicked grin, was holding a shrunken head above the pot and James was reading to sew its mouth shut with the large stakes and robe.

"James?" asked Rose in disbelief.

James jumped at his name being called and turned to see her making her way toward him.

"Yes?" asked a toothy man leering down at her.

"Not you, that James!" she said pushed him away angrily. "The James who's only thirteen and would be switched if his parents found out he was in here."

"I was just-!" James said as Rose grabbed him by the sleeve and tried pulling him out. "Hold your horses, won't you at least let me finish this?"

Rose scowled, "Perhaps I should get Ginny and ask her if I should let you finish."

"No!" James shouted. "I'm coming. Tyler?" Tyler slipped the unfinished shrunken head into his side bag and followed them into the foyer. "Wait a moment!" said James angrily pulling his sleeve from her grasp. "What are you doing in here? In Knockturn Alley even? You're in enough trouble as it is. If I tell, that would be strike three for you."

"We were pushed down her by a crowd of people." She said reproachfully.

"Your parents won't believe that." Said Tyler suddenly grinning.

"Why not?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because you're with him." James finished, pointing at Max who had just slipped a handkerchief from on old wizard's pocket to give to Scorpius.

Rose glared at James. "Look," he said calmly. "I won't tell, if you don't tell, alright?" Rose thought for a moment. She didn't think that this was very fair. James and Tyler had been here on purpose and had been shrinking heads, she and the others had been here by accident. But she knew that he was right, she shook his outstretched hand.

"But you're lucky Tyler Garner." She glared. "Your Aunt would kill you if she knew."

"Don't get all feisty with him." James said rolling his eyes and pushing her from the shop. "Let's get back for Hugo's wand waving ceremony."

"Oi!" came a loud voice bursting from the shop. "You get your hands- Oh…" Al had just blinked confusedly. "James? Augh, we thought someone was kidnapping you, Rosie."

"For future reference," she said, swatting James and Tyler's hands off of her. "If you're gonna try'n play hero, have Max do it. Al, you're not threatening and Scorpius looks as though he just lost a fight."

The rain had slowed down in ferocity and the street that they emerged onto was once again getting crowded. They all smelled bad, from either being crammed into a crowd of nasty people, or having just been hovering over a cauldron of shrunken heads. The six of them made their way to Ollivander's wand shop and squeezed in. The room was small and dusty. Though crowded, it was somehow silent enough to hear a pin drop. The floor boards creaked as they moved along, looking for Hugo. A small line of eleven-year-olds were being magically measured by a thin piece of tape that was whirling about. Rose's eyes landed on an extremely old wizard, he had a cane in one hand, and was snatching wand after wand from another little boy's hands who was trying to find his wand. On the desk where the two were standing around, was a mountain of wands, Rose guessed probably forty. Then her eyes landed on the boy who was waving them.

"Louis!" she said delightedly, and her voice echoed across the room.

Her cousin Louis, looked up at her with his big blue eyes and brushed his blonde hair from them. She had almost forgotten that Louis was starting at Hogwarts this year too.

"Hey, Rosie!" he smiled. "Has Hugo had his wand waving ceremony yet? I didn't want to miss it."

"I don't think so." She replied. "Where's Bill and Fleur? Why are they missing yours?"

"Mom and dad ran out to give Dominique her money, she forgot it. The line was long when they left, I think they thought that they could make it back in time."

Six wands had been handed, then taken from him during this statement. The door burst open and Al jerked Scorpius away so to keep him from getting slammed again. Bill and Fleur, Rose's Aunt and Uncle, had just hurried in looking out of breath. Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny, Hugo and Lily had just run in behind them making the shop more cramped and claustrophobic.

"Louis!" said Fleur, hurrying over to him. "Have you found it yet?"

"No…" said Louis lazily, now leaning on the desk with one hand open as wands were placed, then taken from him by a confused and muttering shop owner.

"What's that smell?" asked Ron, looking around the room with his nose upturned. His gaze led him to where Rose, James, and Tyler were standing.

"It's Tyler." Rose replied casually.

Suddenly, a blast of purple light and a _whoosh_ swept across the room and through every customer there. Louis was holding a long, slender wand. Around the handle and slowly up the wand was what looked like feathers carved into the wood. A couple people who had been frightened by the sensation staggered back and Mr. Ollivander, the shop owner, began to clap slowly.

After paying for his wand, Louis stepped out of the store, being known to get claustrophobic, but he kept his nose to the window to watch Hugo's wand waving. Bill and Fleur stepped out, along with the two kids behind Louis who found their wands on the first and third try. Hugo was next, after being measured, he hopped up to the desk buoyantly. Mr. Ollivander looked from Hugo to his parents. Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked up and shook his old hands.

"Nice to see you, old friend." Said Harry.

"And I you, and I you!" said Ollivander enthusiastically. "Sending another off to Hogwarts just after the first are we?" he asked, glancing to Rose and Hugo.

"Yes, yes they're growing up quite fast." Said Ron.

Hugo looked as though he wanted the small talk to be over so he can hurry up and find his wand. But the small talk wasn't over. Hugo reached into Louis' pile of wands and began swooshing them around. Rose found it very unlikely for a wand in that pile to choose him over the thousands on shelves above. She was about to head over and tell him off for it, to tell him to wait for Ollivander, but just then, he gasped and dropped the wand to the floor.

"It shocked me!" he said in surprise, holding his hand.

"You found it!" said Ollivander delightedly. "Go on, pick it up, pick it up!"

Hugo looked at the piece of wood on the floor and warily leant down to retrieve it.

"Whoa," he said breathlessly. "That feels weird."

"Yes, yes, wands are known to send signals to the person it chooses. The larger signal, the better. You said it shocked you?" Ollivander said looking excited. "Give it here, give it here!"

Ollivander took the wand in his hand and fiddled with it.

"11 ½ inches, elder wood, dragon heart string. I'll have you know young man, that this wand had once belonged to Malik Porprigger. For only one month. It was returned because the spells that it preformed were too furious for Porprigger; a strong wand needs a strong master. And I'll also have you know that wands very rarely choose a second master, this one," he laughed. "this one was on a pedestal young man, it wasn't for sale, until, well until now I suppose."

Hugo took it back and swooshed it before Ollivander had given him the okay. Mr. Ollivander put his arm out and backed everyone to the walls because Hugo's new wand let out a blast of fire that illuminated his startled face. The fire spun in a circle above his head and across the shop, then froze in a ring above his head before turning to water and falling around him. Hugo looked terrified and placed the wand quickly on the countertop and backed away.

Ron and Hermione looked slightly frightened and James stared awestruck. Rose was perplexed, all her wand had done was emit colorful sparks. Was Hugo going to be a better wizard than she was a witch? She was ashamed to be feeling slightly jealous. He was already a very handsome boy, he was not about to be attractive, smart, and a talented Quidditch player was he…? Max began to clap and it was a little while until the others in the shop slowly joined in.

They left the shop, Hugo holding his wand like a child.

"So what do you think?" Ron asked.

"Well…" said Hugo looking at the spiked handle and deadly look of it. "Do you know if Porprigger was a dark wizard?"

"Max!" Rose whispered, pulling the thick History of Magic book that he had been holding over his head to block out the rain, down and pushing it against his chest. "Don't mutilate a book! She already doesn't like you!"

Hermione was looking at him disapproving from the corner of her eye. Max turned slightly red and placed the book under his robe instead.

"Where's you dad?" Rose asked looking around as if Mr. Clent just happened to be beside her.

"He dropped me off." He replied.

"Why? You're only twelve."

"I convinced him, besides, we've grown apart over the summer."

"How come-" she started.

"We had a row about my mother and why he allowed her to get on with what she did. He didn't take too kindly to the things I accused him of." Max said this while grabbing an umbrella from a bucket outside the Magical Menagerie and tossing one Galleon into the bottom which clanged loudly.

"That's stealing." Said Rose watching an old, wheezing man reach into the bucket to retrieve the Galleon and skip away.

"No it's not." Said Max casually. "I paid."

"And that man just took your payment." She said gesturing to wizard who was crouching in a corner, examining the gold closely.

Max looked over his shoulder unconcernedly. "It's not my fault they were robbed." He shrugged before handing the umbrella to Lily who had been wandering outside of the safety of her mother's wand umbrella to get a closer look through the store windows. She took the gift from Max and opened it happily, grinning.

"Thank you." She smiled.

Max gave her an exaggerated bow and continued to catch up with Scorpius and Al.

"It's not broken Scor, don't be a drama queen." Said Al amusedly.

"Are you sure?" Scorpius was saying while poking the bridge of his nose gently. "It feels broken."

"It's just a bruise, Gorpius, really." Max assured him.

"My 'S's' do not look like 'G's' really, I don't know where you guys get that."

Max glanced at Rose's watch as he had done all last semester. "I'm meeting my dad in five minutes." He said. "I should go."

"Oh, but…" Rose stopped. "Can't you join us for dinner?"

Max glanced at Rose's parents. "I think not…" he said. "See you on the train then." And he turned to leave.

"Bye, Max!" Lily called, waving at him.

Max turned and gave her a casual salute before disappearing into the lightly falling rain.

"He's not a bad kid." Said Rose as Ron grabbed her hand to pull her along.

"We never said he was." He said. "But we did see him steal that umbrella."


	3. Heading Home

Rose had put off doing her summer homework in fear of not being able to go back to Hogwarts, and was now paying the price. She spent days like this, on her bed, covered in papers and books, ink and quill. She would have much rather helped Hugo, would rather be giving him the advice that he was constantly coming in here room to ask. She could remember last year when she had been that eager for information. But she couldn't spare any time. She had a small pile of unanswered letters on her desk, things like, " _See ya in three days!_ " or " _Are you gonna bring a pet this year_?" or " _Tell Hugo not to worry_."

Rose had her trunk packed and uniform hung on her closet door. she was going to Hogwarts with six pairs of robes this year. Her parents had insisted on getting her new ones, but considering she had grown only two inches if at all over the summer, and her last year robes had been a little long, she saw no reason to dispose of them.

She loved her parents, always had, but this year, she was a little eager to get away from them. She was so determined to have a perfectly safe year to prove to her parents that she would be fine and that trouble didn't follow Max. Also, she wouldn't be disappointed to not have to catch their sideways glances, wary looks, stifled conversations that she knew had been about her, and when she was on the Hogwarts express to get to school, she wouldn't be worried about them changing their minds.

Rose laid in bed that night but no matter what she did, she couldn't get to sleep. She had finished her homework finally and was feeling a little guilty about how she had treated Hugo. She had assured him that as soon as she finished her homework, that she would answer any questions that he might have had. But it was now too late, she hadn't kept to her word; actually… was it too late? Rose sat up from bed and navigated her way out of her room through the moonlight. Hugo was just across the hall and if he was still awake… at 2:36am, she would stay true to her word.

Rose pushed the door open to find that all the lights were out and the room was quiet. She sighed, knowing that she had missed out on something that she would never have the opportunity to do again. As she turned to close the door, a hand grabbed her around the wrist and she was pulled back into the dark room. A small light appeared at the tip of Hugo's wand and grew brighter to illuminate a worried face.

"Hugo!" Rose whispered. "You can't use magic outside of school!"

"I'm not!" he reasoned, closing the door behind them. "It knows when I want light and illuminates on its own." He placed the wand on his dresser drawer as it shone bright enough to easily illuminate the whole room. "I'm telling you, Rosie, there's something strange about that wand."

"I just came in to answer your questions." She said feeling rude. "A little late?"

"A lot late." Said Hugo. "But better late than never, sit." She and he took a seat on his bed. "When should I change into my robes?" he asked. "I mean, before I'm on the train or after?"

"Before is better." She answered. "Someone will come to your compartment and remind you if you're not already changed, but it's best not to have to miss meaningful conversation. Al put changing into his robes off last year and had to get dressed as all the students were pouring from their compartment and he almost missed the boats."

Hugo was thinking. "Alright, turn around."

She did this without asking why. Hugo often did or had others do odd things without explanation and Rose had become used to it.

"What about the train? Where do the cool kids sit?"

"You don't know until you get there." She replied, staring at Hugo's poster of the Winston Woodpeckers Quidditch team flying around. "I ended up sitting with Scorpius by obligation. If it wouldn't have been rude, I would've found a seat elsewhere and made the worst decision of my life. But if you feel uncomfortable, you can always sit with me and Al."

"Thanks, but if I want to make friends, I should probably put myself out there and not cling to my sister."

Rose tried not to be offended by this.

"You can turn around now." Hugo was wearing his full first year Hogwarts uniform.

"Why are you wearing that now?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I probably won't get to sleep tonight anyway."

Rose almost regretted ever coming in there. His questions kept going on and on, about the most simple, self-explanatory things too. She had to keep reminding herself that she had done the exact same thing to her parents and to James last year when she was starting at Hogwarts. For three hours longer he talked until she ended up falling asleep on his bed and was awaken the next morning by an incredible bomb blast that ended up being Hugo's wand.

"Hugo!" she shouted.

"I didn't do it!" he cried running over to his wand and picking it up. The moment his hand touched the leathery black wood, it stopped spitting sparks and lay still in his hand.

"What time is it?" she asked rubbing her eyes.

"Four pass nine." He answered. "Mom's making muffins."

"Have you been downstairs?" she asked.

"No." he answered, fiddling nervously with his wand.

"Then how do you know mom's making muffins?"

Hugo shoved the tip of his wand under her nose, which scared her, knowing that it could explode at any minute. It was letting off an aroma like freshly baked muffins.

"What?" she said taking it from his hands to examine it. The moment Hugo released it, it began buzzing and became hot, she threw it back at him. "Hugo, just bring it back to Ollivander's." she advised, eyeing it nervously.

"No." he replied sternly. "Mr. Ollivander said that it takes a powerful wizard to control it, I'm going to be that powerful wizard."

"The last owner also returned it." She argued.

"He was weak." Hugo said. "I'm going down for breakfast."

Rose stretched and headed toward her room, cursing Hugo's lumpy mattress. She was dressed in her uniform before she realized what she was doing and looked in the mirror to sigh happily. She loved the feeling of the familiar fabric against her skin. She tied her tie just as tight as she always did, maybe it was to show her classiness, but she was nearly the only person in school who tied it that way if at all. Rose took her trunk full of her clothes, broom, potion ingredients, new and old books, one of the reasons it was so much heavier than before, and drug it downstairs. She saw her dad from the living room window chasing a gnome around as its little potato like head bobbles up from the grass. Her mom was buttering herself a biscuit and Hugo was fussing with his wand, his hair stuck up from where it looked the wand had blasted.

"She wasn't making muffins." Said Hugo as Rose entered the room. "So this thing's just puffing the smells of food I'm craving!"

Rose smiled and sat at the table to get some orange juice, she really wasn't that hungry. She looked around the house and was trying to remember if she had forgotten anything. Remembering, she ran upstairs to retrieve her hand mirror. There were two of these intricately made hand mirrors, one was hers, one was Al's. They had a magical ability to be two-way so that she and her cousin could communicate back and forth though being in separate places; they worked like a muggle video call. The two cousins had used them all last semester to communicate from the Gryffindor and Slytherin common room, most often to try'n riddle out Max's impossible healing powers; they knew now that it was a secret potion concealed in him by his abusive mother.

"Rosie!" she heard her dad call from outside. "Go on and bring your trunk out so I can get it into the car. Tell Hugo to do the same!"

Rose obeyed and pulled her trunk out into the driveway and waved politely to the muggle neighbors who had no idea that they lived in a magical community. Ron waited until the muggle woman moved away from the window to use his wand to hoist her and Hugo's trunks into the car. Rose wasn't pleased about taking the car to the train station, King's Cross, Ron wasn't a very good driver. He had improved over the summer though not getting as much practice as he probably needed. Hugo (who was interested in all things muggle) had been so fascinated with the car engine, that he had ripped out the innards sometime in the beginning of August to see how it worked. The car was busted until Grandad Weasley could stop by and put it back together, explaining exactly how, to Hugo.

They were running late because Hugo's wand had exploded and singed a bit of his hair off and Hermione had refused to let him leave without growing it back. Hugo climbed into the backseat with Rose and buckled up as she never did. He pulled from his pocket a sack type hat and slipped it over his wavy hair.

"Hugo, what it that?" she asked looking at it disapprovingly.

"It's a beanie." He replied obviously.

"It's a sack." She corrected.

"It's a hat, Rose." He said holding himself up. "All the muggle kids are wearing them."

"Hugo," she tried patently and choosing her words carefully. "You can't wear that on the train."

"Why not?"

"Because muggle kids wear them."

"So what?"

"Not everyone has abandoned believes of blood purity. You walk onto the train with that thing on your head, you'll be a joke. You'll be an easy target for bullying."

"I'm not taking it off." He crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Hugo!" she pleaded.

"They won't pick on you just because I'm your weird brother." He said, not looking at her. "So don't worry."

"Hugo!" she said in shock. "That's not what I'm going on about."

"You're embarrassed by me, always have been, because I like muggles. We don't even look that much alike, if you're lucky, they won't even know we're related."

Rose didn't say anything for a moment. First, she was shocked that he felt this way, she had no idea. Second, they look extremely alike, except he had more of his mom's features.

"I'm not embarrassed by you." She said finally. "I just don't want you to be bullied. And there will be people that will bully you for wearing that."

"Since when have I cared what other people think?" he said quietly.

She knew he was right and with a quick glance up at the silent front seats, she was sure that her parents had listened to the whole thing. The two siblings were silent the rest of the way to the train station. Neither of them were angry with the other, perhaps they were lost in their own thoughts. They car arrived, they Ron had hoisted their trunks onto trolleys and rolled them into the station. This half of King's Cross was the muggle half. There were men and women on their way to work. Parents wrestling with children, and teenagers with wires in their ears, banging their heads stupidly.

"Excuse me?" said a middle aged man with a small beard and a ball cap. "Only I've seen seven others dressed as you are heading in the same direction just this morning. Where are you lot going?"

Ron and Hermione were dressed in muggle clothes, but Hugo and Rose were wearing their Hogwarts ones.

"We're raising awareness for chickenpox." Said Ron hurriedly.

"Chickenpox?" asked the man, confused.

"Chickenpox?" repeated Hermione, looking at her husband.

"Yes, we're heading to the hospital to tend to those who have been infected by such a terrible disease." He continued. Rose wished he wouldn't.

"Chickenpox don't send people to the hospital." Said the man.

"Severe cases." Ron muttered quickly and took off toward platform 9 ¾.

"Chickenpox?" Hermione repeated again humored. "Next time, let me do the talking."

"You always get to do the talking." He replied.

"This is why."

The family was facing the familiar brick barrier between platform nine and platform ten. Rose and her mom ran at the divider first, running through it rather than colliding to the ground. Before them, were crowds of people in mixed muggles clothes and wizard robes. Children her age were chasing each other around, older students were comparing height difference over the summer and many familiar faces grinned at her as they walked pass. A _whoosh_ was audible from behind her, and Hugo and Ron came through the divider onto platform 9 ¾ with the women. Hugo's face went white and this became one of the few times Rose had actually seem him frightened. Last year when he had accompanied Rose to the train, he was confidant and strode all across the platform as if he owned it. Now, he hung close to his parents as they made their way through the crowd. Rose couldn't blame him; she had been terrified too.

Unexpectedly, something grabbed her from behind by the waist and lifted her off her feet. She screamed playfully and when set down, turned to see her cousin Teddy. Teddy was her step cousin really, not being biologically related. He was tall and had bright teal hair most of the time, though he could change it at will being a metamorphmagus like Max. He had graduated from school for two years now but still came to see his little cousins off. Rose was surprised he had found time off work, he was employed at a magical menagerie outside of London. A place where magical animals are held and displayed until proper homes or environments were found for them. Teddy loved animals, his real ambition was to apprentice under Rose's Uncle, Charlie, tending to dragons in Romania. Teddy's Grandma, Tonks, was very displeased with this idea. He was the only close relative she had left alive, her husband, daughter, and son in-law had been murdered in the second wizarding war, so it was no wonder she didn't want him to go far, especially to go do something as dangerous as dragon tending.

Teddy was grinning at her and after putting her down, used her head as an arm rest. "You excited?" he asked.

"Of course I am." She replied, pushing his arm off. "I'm going home." Teddy raised his eyebrows. "You know what I mean! There's home, then there's Hogwarts home."

"How's the little one?"

"Hugo's more frightened than I've ever seen him." She replied mournfully, gesturing to where he was chatting with Lucy, another one of their cousins.

"He looks fine." Said Teddy.

"Fine?" asked Rose in surprise. "He's shaking with fear, poor kid."

"Are you sure it's not you whose afraid?" he asked with a sly sideways glance at her.

"Why would I be scared?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're afraid he'll embarrass you with his crazy antics, the way he dresses, his interests." Rose opened her mouth to protest, but Teddy interrupted. "Or maybe you're afraid he'll be a better wizard than you are a witch." Rose closed her mouth. "That's it, isn't it?"

"I'm not competing." She said coldly. "It's just… I've been the smart one and he's been the-"

"Popular one?" Teddy suggested. "Look, you'll both shine, you already do, and he always does. Just be happy for each other. You can't be better at everything; Hugo needs his shot too." He rubbed her frizzy hair out of its braid and left into the crowd, giving her something to think about. Was he right about any of that? Could one of those possible be the reasons she was so uneasy about him going to Hogwarts with her? She hoped not. Any of those reasons made her sound and feel like a bad, envious sister.

She saw her cousin Victoire, who had just graduated last year, meet with Teddy and run off somewhere laughing. Suddenly, darkness surrounded her and she felt hands cover her eyes.

"Guess who?" came her cousin Fred's voice, but those weren't his hands over her face.

"Ortho." She said pulling away and turning around.

"How'd you know?" Ortho exclaimed. "It was Freddie talking."

"Your hands smell like liquorish, always have." She replied smartly.

Ortho smelled his hands then shrugged. Ortho was a member of Fred's flock (gang) along with Cian Garner (the prefect), Fritz Nutter (the short muggle born), Ortho Truette (the strong articulate one), Roxanne Weasley (The deputy headmistress of the posse), and Fred Weasley (the named leader). This was the teacher's least favorite group, separate, they were good students, together, they wreaked havoc. Rose didn't linger very long, she liked them all, but was eager to find her own group of friends before the train whistle blew, announcing eleven o'clock and the departure of the train.

Every now and then, she would glance back to find Hugo and make sure he was alright. The longer he lingered on the platform, the more confidant he seemed to become. Wandering into the heart of the crowd alone, was a bad idea. She found herself stuck in the middle of a lively crowd, bustling around with trunks and cages, children and trolleys. She was being bumped about and shoved, by accident probably. Rose almost called out in frustration when a stiff hand gripped hers, and the bodiless arm pulled her toward its person. Her face split into a grin when she saw that it was Max. She didn't have to lean in far to hug him, they were right up against each other and being hustled from all sides. Rose stayed close, gripping her friend's arm as he shoved through the crowd just as violently as those around him. He soon broke from the last minute stragglers hurrying to get onto the train and hit Rose in the arm lightly.

"What are you doing wandering into a stampede like that?" he asked breathlessly.

"I was looking for you and Scorpius." She replied.

"Why would you think I'd be stupid enough to venture into that?" he asked.

"Scorpius might've." She replied.

" _Might have_." Hermione corrected, making her way beside her daughter. "You best get on the train." She said hugging Rose.

Al was beside Hermione and was hugged before running onto the train with a slap on the back for Max. Rose felt uncomfortable as her father hugged her as well; both parents had ignored Max.

"Listen Rosie." Ron said pulling her close by the hands. He glanced up at Max before continuing, and Max backed off quickly. Ron looked back at Rose. "I want you to stay out of trouble, alright? No dangerous acts of bravery like last year?"

"It'll be hard." She said. "I am my father's daughter."

Ron smiled proudly, then cleared his throat when seeing the look Hermione was giving him. "Just, promise me, okay?"

"I promise I won't go looking for trouble." She said slowly. "But… I'll bet that's what you told your mom before each school year too."

Ron didn't say anything. She pecked him on the cheek and took off toward where Max was standing.

"Have a good term, Rosie!" called Hermione, then she looked over at Max, knowing it would impolite to ignore him. "You too, Everard." She said stiffly.

Max smiled disappointedly and looked at his feet. Rose looked from her parents to Max, then linked arms with her friend before heading toward the train. She knew that it probably looked like a rebellious move to link arms with him in front of her parents, and in some ways it was. She wanted them to see clearly that she didn't think that any of what happened was his fault and that they will remain friends. She thought that of all people, they would understand that, her Uncle Harry repeatedly almost getting them killed, but over the summer, it seemed they didn't.


	4. Hatstall

In every compartment, they walked pass, harbored someone they knew. The occupants would smile and wave at them as they headed toward the back of the train where the compartment they had chosen as their own the previous year was located. Rose had to unlink arms from an uncomfortable Max to make it through the narrow hall.

There was the sound of a compartment door screeching open and at least five pairs of hands grabbed Rose and yanked her into the compartment. She screamed and punched at first until she saw the familiar grin of Enoc Hubert across from her.

"Easy kid." Laughed Watson Trout, her fellow Gryffindor Quidditch chaser.

Looking around, she found that her whole team was here. Paxton Rockward (the captain), Watson Trout and Isaac Fisher (the chasers), and Ishmael Stewart and Enoc Hubert (the beaters). Her cousin, James (the keeper) she knew was sitting with Fred and the flock; people she knew that he aspired to one day be.

"Merlin's balls guys." She huffed standing up. "A simple 'hello' would have sufficed."

Rocky shrugged unconcernedly. "Hey, breakfast boys!" Rocky became distracted by Max and Al who were leaning against the door frame. He fists bumped them and ruffled Al's already messy black hair. All last year, Max, Scorpius, and Al had brought breakfast down for the Gryffindor Quidditch team because Rocky had tendency to run practice pass breakfast. The three boys had been the hero's even though Al played seeker for their opposing team.

The train suddenly gave a huge lurch and Al toppled over as the engine puffed away.

"Better stick to the air." Said Isaac. "Not as coordinated on your feet are you?"

Al ignored him and ran over to the window, stumbling over the many lounging legs in the walk way. Al threw open the window and stuck his head out to say his last goodbye to his parents. Rose decided otherwise. She didn't want her parents to try'n bellow out one last bit of advice.

"Are you done standing on my foot?" Enoc asked Al.

"Where are you lot going?" the three friends had just turned to leave.

"We're heading to our compartment." Rose replied.

"Why don't you guys stay here?" Ishmael smiled, always being hospitable and inviting.

"We have to find Scorpius." Said Max.

"Cool, you can send him back too!"

Rose looked at their incredibly full compartment and tried to imagine four more people sitting on the bench. "Thanks Ishmael." She smiled genuinely, "But I'm afraid that would be just a tad uncomfortable." She said widening her finger from a little to a lot.

She was the only girl on the Gryffindor team last year. She spent every waking moment around either her three guy friends or six male teammates. Though appreciating the offer, she wasn't too keen on spending hours in a confined compartment with ten guys all the way to Hogwarts. She thought for a moment whether Scorpius was waiting for them already.

As they neared the back of the train, a small commotion met them. From inside of their prechosen compartment, arms were flailing about and shouts were heard from the inside. The compartment across from the last one was jammed packed full of students punching the air and shouting muffled through the closed door. Rose, Max, and Al broke into a hurried stride and froze when something tall and blonde was thrown from the compartment and hit the glass opposite where the cheering crowds stood. They recognized quickly, Scorpius stand up and dive back into the compartment with a war cry.

The three friends ran after him, Al muttering something that sounded like, "Good going, Scor."

Bursting into the compartment, this _would_ have been the scene that met them; junk, travel cases and luggage lay open on the ground, the contents spilled out, Poppy, lounging lazily on the bench, chewing on a bit of her hair with mild interest in the fight before her, Scorpius with blue and black bruises on his cheek and nose, and Fraunk bouncing on his toes, fists poised to strike. Though, this wasn't what Rose saw because Scorpius had dodged Fraunk's swing which hit the person directly behind him, Rose. White spots danced in front of her had tried to blink them away and assess what the heck had just happened. The cheering crowd safely behind the glass of the neighboring compartment gasped sharply as she was hit and remained quiet as she felt someone grip her around the arms and drag her backward. Three sickening thumps were heard in front of her and Rose was afraid to look up and see Scorpius on the ground with a black eye, busted jaw and cracked teeth. She blinked away the stars, swallowed the pain and dove out of the arm of whoever was holding her to pull Fraunk off her friend as the pounds continued to ring through the hall, one after another.

Swinging herself into the compartment again, a horrible sight awaited her. It wasn't Scorpius on the ground, no, Scor was wrestling with Poppy who had just bounded up to help her friend that Max presently had pinned to the ground, hitting repeatedly.

His hair and eyes were a blood red which always meant that he was angry, he had his fist in the air which was speckled with blood. The person behind Rose pushed pass her and Al dove over Max to pry him off, but he wouldn't budge.

"Max! Stop it!" she screamed.

Max's fist came to a halting stop midair. And he glared up at Rose who was holding her bleeding zygomatic bone. He looked back at the sixth-year boy who was cowering on the floor. Max gritted his teeth and pushed off Fraunk's chest. Scorpius finally released Poppy who scrunched her bulldog like face in disgust. She continued to call Max a series of crude names as she helped Fraunk from the ground and ushered him out into the hall, shoving Rose into the wall as she did so.

"Mudblood bitch." Poppy growled.

Max would have flung himself at her if it weren't for Scorpius who caught him under the arms and held him back tightly. Max wrestled away from Scorpius long enough to stride to the door and slam it with the force of a gunshot. The compartment across from them stared silent. Max waved his oak wand and the compartment doors went gray. He threw himself onto the bench and kicked one of the suitcases by his feet.

"What… in Merlin's silky beard, was that?" Al said in shock.

Max didn't respond, he was staring at his swollen fists in what Rose couldn't tell was pride, or regret, two very different emotions. She sat opposite him, but the other two boys remained standing.

"Scor!" Al snapped for an explanation.

"I don't get it!" Scor exclaimed. "They had loaded all their stuff in here specifically for the fact that we couldn't use it, and sat elsewhere. I demanded that they move their stuff, Poppy got mad, making Fraunk get mad and he hit me in the stomach so I hit him back, and it just escalated."

Fraunk was a fifth year Slytherin, Poppy was a second. They had assembled a group of blood purist Slytherins to hated Gryffindor and wanted to rid the school of all muggle blood last year. If any enemies had been made, it was this group who called themselves Salazar's. Poppy and Fraunk had a particular dislike for the four friends. Poppy had fought Scorpius, dueled Rose, had her tooth cracked my Al, and was cursed by Max last year; she had brought all these acts on herself, well, all accept the tooth cracking which was an accident. Fraunk simply hated the Weasley-Potter family because of his long rivalry with Fred and now James.

Rose feared what she had just witnessed. Her best friends, mercilessly beating the snot out of a boy twice his size without hesitation. What had made him do it? She decided to ask him, knowing that because of a bit of dark magic used on him by his abusive mother from a young age, he couldn't tell a lie without painful continuances.

"Max?" she asked softly, conjuring up a handful of ice with her wand and taking Al's handkerchief from his pocket to wrap the cold cubes. She placed the ice pack on his swollen hands which were clinched in his lab. "Why did you-"

"What are you doing?" he snapped, jerking his hands away from her and taking the icepack from her hand.

"You're wounded." She said obviously.

"I don't need treatment for my hands." He scoffed. "Look at yourself." He forced the icepack toward her and surprisingly gently, placed it against her cheek bone which stung she realized. "That no-good, stinkin, pratt of a person woman beater." He grunted under his breath as he pressed the icepack on the wound, trying to find the sweet spot.

"Why'd you beat him?" she asked seriously, pushing the ice pack down.

"Why?" he asked incredulously. "He hit you. Hard. In the face."

"I was fine; I could have taken care of things myself." She argued.

"What? You would have sat him down and talked to him rationally? Some people need sense knocked into them."

"I don't need you to fight my battles." She said.

Max looked intently at her, his red eyes as bright as ever. "There will come a day that you will want take that back." He said under his breath.

"What? Because on that day you will not be there to fight for me?" she crossed her arms.

He didn't break his eye contact. "Rose Weasley," he said in a tone hardly audible. "I will _always_ be there to fight for you."

She didn't look away. She knew he was telling the truth and she couldn't tell if that promise made her feel safe, or frightened. Max looked down and placed the ice back onto her face.

Scorpius looked at Al with his eyebrows raised, waiting.

"What?" Al asked.

"Aren't you gonna tell me that you'll always be there to fight my battles?"

Al laughed and hit him in the arm. "At least lone me an ice pack." He said, looking much more battered than Rose was.

A sharp rap on the darkened glass told them that someone wanted to get in. Al opened the door and the flock was standing there with looks of worry mixed with excitement.

"I heard there was a fight going on!" said Fritz, his wand ready in his hands.

"What happened to you?" asked Roxanne, seeing Scorpius' many bruises.

"Fight." He muttered.

"So you four were involved?" asked Fred. "Wait a bloody ticking second!" he said striding in and removing the ice from Rose's face to see a swollen purple mark growing there. "Who did this?" he asked composedly, breathing fire from his nose. Fred was rarely angry, but the few times he was, were not pleasant memories in her head.

"Fraunk." Said Al before Rose could shut him up. "Got her with a right hook."

Fred's reddish brown hair would have exploded in flames, Fraunk was his worst enemy and Rose was his favorite little cousin. For a moment, Rose though that he was going to let it pass. He stood there for a moment, took a deep, calming breath, and lunged at the flock to dive through, clearly wanting to tear Fraunk to pieces in the most painful way possible. Luckily, Ortho, who was a bit larger than Fred, had caught him.

"He hit her!" Fred screamed. "He hit my little cousin! I swear I'll kill 'em!"

"You can't do that!" argued Cian. "I can't let you do that! I'm a prefect! I'm a prefect!"

"Breathe." Suggested Fritz, Fred had to look down quite a distance to look into the short sixth year's face.

"I'm not letting him get away with something like that!" Fred screeched. "I'm not letting him beat on my cousin, second year, girl, and walk away!"

"Oh, he didn't get away with it." Scorpius grinned.

"Detention isn't good enough!" yelled Fred, becoming hysteric.

"No, no…" Al teased. "Only he'll be having to see through one eye for the next month, Max here beat the brat to a pulp."

Fred narrowed his eyes at Max, clearly not thinking that a second year could be capable of such damage.

"Whose are those?" Cian asked innocently, she was pointing at the bags and items across the floor and seats.

"Poppy's, Fraunk's, a few of the other Salazar's I think." Shrugged Scorpius, poking at a swollen bulge beneath his eye.

Cian looked from the luggage, to her friends, back to the luggage.

"Fred?" she said calmly. Fred scowled over. "I'm walking away now, and have no responsibility for what is about to happen… to this luggage… while I'm gone… Don't touch those bags… right there… on the floor. Okay, I'm leaving now." She turned and nudged Fred in the back toward the bags and walked away.

Fred watched her leave, he looked from the bags on the floor, to Max. "Tell me about it." He said gruffly.

"Fred, it's not a big deal." Said Rose quickly, becoming afraid about how severe he was becoming.

"Tell me how bad it was." He repeated more stern toward Max.

Max didn't respond, he was staring at his fists and Rose now knew that what he had felt earlier was regret, and she felt better knowing that.

"You should have seen it!" said Scorpius excitedly.

"Scor!" said Rose sternly, wanting him to shut up.

"One, two three times in the face!" Scor continued. "Fraunk is like three times bigger but was knocked senseless. That douche was knocked to the floor and this B. A. jumped on top of the guy and kept them coming, one after the other!"

Fred squinted again, then shrugged. "If you're telling the truth, then I expect to see Fraunk with his face pressed in walking into the great hall." He took a deep breath and looked at the luggage sprawled out on the floor. "This'll have to do." He said, then with a lazy flick of his finger, his crew burst in, collected all the mess, and sped out with armfuls as if Fred were their powerful Italian crime boss. He turned with anger and confidence and walked out leaving the four by themselves again.

Scorpius scooted close to Rose and pulled her face toward his to assess the damage. "I'm sorry, Rosebud." He said.

"For what?" she asked, quite perplexed.

"I caused him to hit you."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "You're apologizing for not letting him punch you?"

"I'm apologizing for moving out of the way, if I hadn't-"

"Than you would have been punched in the face, don't be stupid." She said taking the ice pack off her face to heal his own.

Al was sitting their shivering with a handful of ice and no rag to put it in. "I suppose this was an eventful start of term." Said Al, dropping the ice to the floor. "Haven't even got to school yet and we have a fight."

"Do you think we'll get in trouble for this?" Rose thought horribly.

"You won't, or Al… But he might." Scorpius gestured toward Max who hadn't looked up from his hands. "Maybe me, but I don't mind, I haven't had a detention yet and they don't sound too bad."

"I think you're in the clear Scor." Said Al. "I doubt Fraunk would be too keen on admitting that a second year kicked his ass."

Max half smiled for the first time that day. A crack sounded above them and they all looked up quickly in case something fell, and something did fall, rain began to fall from the ceiling as they smelled smoke and heard squeals from the other compartments who were obviously getting the unwanted shower.

"I think I know what the flock did with the luggage." Said Scor.

After the rain stopped as a false alarm and the kids used their wands to dry themselves off, the rest of the ride was rather uneventful, by comparison maybe. The food trolley stopped by and they bought an assortment of wizard's sweets. Max's hair had gone back to its trademark indigo and his eyes purple. Getting bored, they decided to visit other compartments which Max wasn't pleased about. He didn't want to see the damage that his moment of rage had caused, nor did he want to run into any Salazar's, nor into Danielle, Max's secret admirer/stalker. But she convinced him to go and she was surprised to find Hugo in a compartment full of girls. They were listening closely as he explained all that his new wand could do, and seemed as comfortable with this as he was comfortable with sleeping in. She had given him a small wave, deciding not to intrude, Scorpius gave him a look of disbelief and envy at his success with the many first and second year girls leaning in interestedly. They met Louis sitting on a bench talking with Abercrombie Boot, the well-known Ravenclaw prefect. Though Abercrombie was much older than Louis, he was listening intently as Louis explained how pictures are developed to move was showing him the stacks of photos he had brought with him. Rose looked at her handsome blonde haired blue eyed cousin who looked like a replica of his mother and could clearly see the word, 'Ravenclaw' stamped on his head. On the way back, Rose spotted her cousin, Domonique, Louis' sister sitting in a compartment of other insanely gorgeous, popular girls. The compartment across were full of hopeless boys staring opened mouthed and drooling at the girls as they threw their shiny locks of hair behind them laughing like angles. Rose rolled her eyes. She loved her cousin, but she didn't like the other girls. They weren't mean or selfish, on the contrary, they were kind and helpful, energetic, confidant, beautiful and popular… they were just… too perfect. Was that rude of her to think so? Rose pushed the door open and let herself in, not to sit, just to talk because Dominique had just seen her and it would have been rude to continue pass.

"Ah, Rose!" said Dominique happily with her light French accent that she had inherited from her mother's strong one; she hugging her cousin. Dominique was starting her fifth year at Hogwarts but had always looked older.

"Did you see Hugo back there?" Rose asked politely.

"I have!" she exclaimed. "Quite the lady's man, isn't he?"

"Don't you think he should be making friends with a couple guys at least? I mean, he won't end up rooming with any of those girls, he'll know no one when he arrives." She said.

"That didn't stop you." Dominique smiled, gesturing toward Al, Max, and Scor who were standing by the door, looking a lot like the girl's admirers with their mouths hanging open.

Rose had wanted to leave after making small talk, she only walked in in the first place because it would have been rude to pass after Dom had seen her outside the compartment. Luckily, the girls had started making suggestions about how to tame Rose's hair, giving her an excuse to act offended and storm out. The boys in the compartment across had stopped bobbing to see around Rose and stared freely again as she left, they didn't even so much as give her a side glance, not that she had wanted them too, only, it would have been nice to be noticed for once.

She had never been told by anyone but her mother and father that she was beautiful, maybe Dom and Victoire after she had a full face of makeup on. She hadn't ever cared about her appearance before, but was now noticing things she hadn't before, like how the beautiful girls were the popular ones, the pretty girls were always in a relationship and the attractive boys and girls were always surrounded by people. As she got older, she was starting to see how shallow the world was. She couldn't stop thinking about something James had said over Sunday brunch mid-summer, " _Guys aren't friends with the pretty girls, they intimidate us too much, make us nervous. It's the ugly girls that we're comfortable around. If you see a guy with an attractive girl, then you'll likely see them snogging sometime soon._ " Now, James was well known for being an idiot when it came to common sense or logic, but that sounded about right. Any attractive guy who hung around a girl ended up dating her later. Most unattractive girls had a plethora of guy friends who remained such, friends. James hadn't meant any harm by his words, he hadn't considered that Rose only had guy friends and was sitting right next to him. But he was right, since she had a group of guy friends and none of them will ever have romantic feeling for her, does that mean she's a dog? Even her Quidditch team of only guys wasn't interested… thank God actually. Rose took a deep breath and tried to flatten her frizzy red hair behind her ears, but it was no use, it was simply too bushy.

She made it back to the compartment and she listened to her friends talk about how lucky Hugo was. She was thankful to have guy friends though, especially being the only girl. She got the comfiest seats, best food, and was always the first in and first out, because she was the only girl which made the guys feel obligated to be chivalrous; she didn't remember the last time she had had to open a door for herself. Also, the guys, they never judged her, they didn't sit and point out her poorest qualities and worst flaws like girls would, in fact, they didn't see them. She was one of the guys and looks weren't a quality one needed to be good enough to hang out. She rarely got compliments regarding her appearance from them, but she had never heard them talk ill of her before.

"Do you think Hugo flashed the Weasley card?" Scorpius joked. "Hey ladies, I'm a Weasley, come with me." He impersonated with a smug, flashy expression on his face. "Why don't you ever do that, Al? We could be popular."

"I don't want to flash my Potter name around." He shrugged. "I want to make a name for myself. You could though, your family's well known too."

"Sure." Scor snorted. "Hey ladies," he raised his eyebrows again. "I'm a Malfoy, we were partly responsible for Voldemort's rise to power and the near end of the world not to mention many innocent deaths, wanna grab a drink?"

"I know a few people who would buy that." Said Rose. "The chicks who like bad boys, at least until they meet you Scor, and realize you're only a big softy who can't brew a potion."

"Hey! I passed my potions exam!"

"Danielle for one." Rose continued. "She likes bad boys."

"Fat chance for me." Scor laughed. "He's got her wrapped around his finger." He slapped Max's leg who scrunched his face in displeasure at the thought of Danielle.

"That's the reason Danielle started liking Max in the first place, because Poppy started to rumor that he was a dark wizard, and I suppose she was right in a way."

"Another reason to hate Poppy." Said Max.

"You have a list?"

"I'm starting one."

Scorpius was just finishing a recap on how his summer had gone when the train came to a screeching halt. Rose hadn't had her turn which she was thankful for, her summer wasn't a very exciting or pleasant story. She knew that Max would blame himself for how her summer had gone anyway. They were jostled all down the hall to get off the train. Scorpius had to catch Al who had missed the step and fell headfirst over a group of scared first year girls. Last year, all the first years had followed Hagrid to the lake where they took little row boats to the school, she knew that wasn't the case this year and she was at an utter loss for where they're supposed to go. She heard Hagrid's booming voice calling the first over toward him. Hagrid was a half giant with a big brown and gray beard and bushy hair. He was huge and frightening to those who didn't know him, like the first years trembling before him as he yelled for the others.

Rose tried peering over the heads of the crowd to find her brother. After a moment, she spotted a mound of curly red hair bouncing through the darkness. Hugo hopped right up to Hagrid and greeted his friend with a fist bump; he was still surrounded by girls. Rose smiled at her brother's courage in the face of the first night of the rest of his life, and followed the crowds of Hogwarts veteran students. They were heading toward from Hogsmeade station toward Hogwarts school. Waiting for them a little way up was lines of horseless carriages waiting for them. Rose spotted Poppy in the crowd and grabbed her friends to hang back until they were stragglers, far from her. Before Poppy was swallowed by the quickly moving crowd, Rose saw Fraunk beside her. Even through the lantern lit path, shadowed and moving, they could see clearly his half-swollen face, purple and yellow. Rose looked over at Max who had his purple hair down. She wondered whether he had seen it or not.

They climbed into the last carriage to be sure that they were beyond wand distance away from their enemies. It felt like a rather long time, but she supposed that it was only her growling stomach that made her feel that way. After a while of listening to Al absentmindedly singing Three Beans at the Bottom of my Cauldron, the carriage kicked off and started forward. The ride wasn't long; they were led off and up toward the familiar oak front doors. The crowd busted through them and were off to the great hall. Rose wondered if there was an escort leading the students or not, but she couldn't tell, they were too far in the back anyway. She looked to the ceiling to see the crystal chandelier, toward the marble staircase and floors and smiled in relief to be back home.

Rose and Max were only able to get good seats because the Gryffindor Quidditch team had beckoned them to the front and had shoved half the bench toward the edge when moving to make room. Scorpius and Al were required to sit with their house to welcome any new Slytherin members after the sorting. They had seats at the very end of the table, hardly able to see the front where the students were to be sorted. Rose knew that they had chosen those seats on purpose, Poppy and Fraunk were in front. Max had his hand to his face to either block his line of sight to Fraunk's mangled face, or to not be recognized, but his deep indigo, almost navy hair gave him away if that were the case.

She was wondering what was taking so long for the first years to be escorted from that door to the front, it didn't seem to take this long when she was to be sorted. Then she thought that it probably seemed a lot shorter because she had been scared out of her mind, and it probably seemed a lot longer for her now because she was anticipant for her brother and cousin's sorting and the fact that she was starving.

The sorting is a ceremony that started the first day of term every year. All first years would come from a side room to be escorted toward the front of the teachers table to await their turn. When their name was called, they would step up and sit on a stool after placing an ancient and patched wizard's hat on their head and they'd await the hat to call out the house they were best suited for based on the intel it receives from staring into the child's subconscious. There were four houses as Hogwarts, Hufflepuff (loyal and hardworking), Ravenclaw (Intelligent and creative), Slytherin (cunning and resourceful), and Gryffindor (courageous and chivalrous). The first year would be sorted and then would join the table under the banner of their new house.

Rose had just leaned over to whisper to Max about his fly being unzipped, but stopped when she was distracted by the door to the side being flung open and Professor Dalbert walking through, behind him, over a dozen first years including two members of Rose's family. She had a new appreciation for Dalbert now. Last year, he had traveled to the crumbling house in Scotland to rescue her and Max after they had traveled to save Will. He had dueled the evilest witch in the U. K to ensure that his students get back to school safely. She hadn't been as appreciative of his acts until summer. He had scolded both her and Max, being angry and frightened over their actions. But over summer, Rose relived the event again and again in her head, most of the time unwillingly. She had realized then how dangerous it was for Dalbert to do what he did, for two in two-hundred kids too. She looked back up toward the teachers table at her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dalbert was tall and thin, he had wavy black hair and bright blue eyes and looked a lot younger than he was. Behind him, sitting at the teachers table was, Hagrid who smiled at Hugo and waved his massive hand, Professor Flitwick, the tiny, probably part goblin, Charms teacher, Professor Sinistra, Max's favorite teacher, being the Astronomy one. There was a handful of other teachers Rose didn't know but from sight, these were most likely the teachers of the special subjects to be taken in third year. Professor Donima, the plump Transfiguration teacher, sat smiling sternly at the crowd as if looking for those who are looking to start trouble; Max didn't look in her direction at all, all four of them had accidentally walked in on her less than half dressed last year and Max more than the rest, was scarred. Above all the rest, Professor Kemp stood out. He was the headmaster of Hogwarts and sat in the throne like chair in the middle of the teachers table. He had sparkling eyes and a short brown beard, he smiled at the first years as they trooped in and puffed on his pipe more vigorously as he awaited his next pupils.

"Max?" she whispered to her friend next to her. "Do you see Hugo? I lost him."

"He's probably still engulfed by the crowd of girls." Max whispered uninterestedly back. "Listen for giggles."

She did this, but still heard nothing. "I don't hear anything." She said. "Do you see red curls?"

"Rose, the songs about to start, later." Max waved her away.

"Do you see Louis?" she ignored him. "He's a bit shorter so it might be-"

She was shut up by Max's hand sweeping over to cover her mouth as he continued to stare intently at the old hat that Professor Dalbert had recently placed on a three-legged stool. The hat had shivered then spit a seam at the base and a voice escaped the tear and began a son. Rose had completely forgotten that the hat did this and was too focused on the song now that she forgot to shove Max's hand off.

 ** _"_** ** _A bit about myself,_**

 _ **For you have never seen me,**_

 _ **I am smart and I am clever,**_

 _ **I am bold and I am brave,**_

 _ **I am strong and I am loyal,**_

 _ **I am ambitiousness and won't take toil.**_

 _ **Some say it takes one to know one,**_

 _ **And this I will do,**_

 _ **For all these things are me,**_

 _ **And some of them are you.**_

 _ **For if you're bold you may be Gryffindor,**_

 _ **Strong but also reckless,**_

 _ **If smart you may be Ravenclaw,**_

 _ **Always eager for learning,**_

 _ **Their minds are always turning,**_

 _ **Slytherins are resourceful,**_

 _ **They always find a way,**_

 _ **Hufflepuffs are loyal,**_

 _ **They will do what they say.**_

 _ **All you must do, is put me on your head,**_

 _ **I will look within, and do as I said.**_

 _ **I will place you in your home with others like you,**_

 _ **And they will be your family, they will do as you do.**_

 _ **So step up first years and take the test,**_

 _ **And I will put you where you will do best."**_

 _Shouts of approval and applause followed the song as it finished. Rose recognized this last line as the same from last year, but knew that all the rest was new; it sounded as if the hat was becoming a little big-headed. She applauded along with everyone else and became uncomfortably aware of the confused and peculiar faces in her direction. She realized soon that they were looking at Max's hand which was still covering her mouth; he had his head propped on his elbow and was still staring with interest. Rose threw his hand off and wiped her mouth with her sleeve; his hands smelled like sugar from the many sweets they had feasted on hours ago._

"Maybe we should-" she started but was again shushed as he stared at Apollo, Linus who had just been called up and sat on the stool, allowing the hat to slip right over his eyes. "Why can't-?" she tried again.

"Shhh." He said again, reaching his hand over. She slapped it away and hoped that this covering her mouth to shut her up wasn't going to be an all year thing. After Linus Apollo was sorted into Slytherin and the whole hall erupted in applause, Max stopped clapping and stared again after Azra, Kimberly and Rose knew that he was going to watch the entire sorting this way.

Rose rested her head on the table, curing her last name's 'W' a letter which alphabetical order law stated would come close to last. On and on it went, some students taking up to four minutes to be sorted. It was rather dull when you were watching from this perspective. Rose had almost closed her eyes, but was shocked to wake up as Dalbert bellowed the name

" _Weasley, Hugo!_ "

Rose sat up with new interest as her brother walked from the middle of the crowd to sit coolly on the stool and slip the hat over his head, allowing him to be plunged into darkness as the hat fell over his eyes. Rose held her breath, took another breath and held that. This was taking a long time… Rose looked at her watch, four minutes and thirty-two seconds. She watched as Hugo seemed to become bored; forty seconds. Hugo put his head on his hands and waited; fifty seconds. Rose was scratching at the table's surface, she would have sworn that his would be a quick and easy Gryffindor sorting, fifty-five seconds. What if he wasn't placed in Gryffindor? Sixty seconds… he's a hatstall! A hatstall! When the sorting hat can't decide between more than one house. Rose was bouncing in her seat with excitement and anticipation whenever an eruption of noise was heard, not from the hat, but from Hugo who stood up from the stool, ripped the hat off his head and yelled "GRYFFINDOR!" before running toward his table to be cheered on and high-fived by his new fellow Gryffindor members. Rose ran up to her brother and ruffled his hair.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It let me choose!" he had to yell over the noise. "The hat let me choose my house!"

"What were your choices?"

"Shhh!" Hugo breathed as Louis stepped forward.

Rose watched from a crouching position instead of going back to her seat. The hat was on his shiny blonde hair for three minutes before it called out,

"Ravenclaw!" The hall rang with applause, mostly from the Ravenclaw table and Molly, the only Weasley Ravenclaw cousin until Louis.

Rose doesn't remember the rest; she was now too hungry. She wasn't concerned about not listening to the results of the rest of the sorting, she knew that if she had any questions, Max could give her a play by play. She did however, remember the feast, she couldn't tell you what it all looked like or even what food was served, it was all a blur as it sped toward her mouth. Max had been watching her from the corner of his eye with a look of disgust mixed with amusement as he shaved the corn off his cob neatly.

"Don't judge me." She said through a mouthful of potatoes.

Max shrugged with a smile. This eating was a habit she had learned from her father and thank God she had also inherited his fast metabolism. She wasn't done with her Jell-O when the prefects were called to escort their house to the common rooms. Jack Wilkins stood up from the table and called loudly for the students to follow him. Last year it had been Cian who did this job, did they alternate?

"Where's Cian?" Rose asked Fred as he grew closer, looking grim.

"Donima pulled her aside." He huffed. Rose looked toward the teacher's table and now noticed the absence of their Professor.

"Why?"

"She's getting scolded for not preventing three students from lighting a fire on the train." He replied.

"So you did burn the luggage." She said.

"Course we did." He shrugged.

"But that's not her fault." Said Rose.

"As a prefect you have responsibilities." Fred replied. "You're not only responsible for your actions, but for those around you, one good reason why being a prefect sucks. Now Roxy?" he said to his big haired sister who had caramel skin and a spunky demeanor. "You do the introduction this year, I'm not feeling it." The flock looked toward their leader with slight concern.

"I've got this." Said Roxanne striding to the front of the line to interrupt Jack and give the annual flock advise about the stairs, trip steps, moving portraits, and Peeves the poltergeist.

"You okay, man?" asked Fritz.

Fred shrugged. "Go on up there." He said pushing the two boys toward Roxy. "Help her out."

Rose pushed forward to listen to Roxanne's take on things and accidentally stepped on Max's foot. Rose was distracted when spotting Hugo fiddling with the button on his robe. She pushed forward to see him.

"So what was the other house?" she asked.

"Ravenclaw." He replied. "If I had known Louis was going to be in Ravenclaw I might have chosen it, we could have been roommates." He shrugged. "But Gryffindor won't be bad I don't think." He said glancing at three of the girls he had shared a compartment with and winked.

"Oh lay off." Rose smiled, pushing him. "You need to get some guy friends."

They were all led to the portrait of the fat lady in a pink satin dress who guarded the entrance to Gryffindor tower. "Password?" she sang.

"Theiruckle." Said Jack who looked displeased by Roxanne stepping in to take charge.

A few of the first years could be heard chanting the word in hopes not to forget it as portrait swung open to allow the students to climb through. The common room was just as warm, just as cozy as ever. A fire was lit before the grate, a tapestry of a roaring lion hung above the mantel piece, red couches and chairs were spread about this room, rugs lined the floors and games were stacked on tables and counter tops, Gryffindors being well known for their competitive spirit, board games were an essential and relatively knew addition to the common room. Rose took a seat on her favorite couch and pulled one of the pillows to her chest. Max sat down beside her and propped his shoes on the table before them, all they needed was papers and books scattered around them and it would be as though they never left in the first place.


	5. Quidditch, Beaters, and Brutes

It took nearly a week for Rose to get back into the swing of things. Classes were noticeably more difficult. Defense Against the Dark Arts for one, Dalbert had been teaching the first-year students spells that were normally held until the third year This year, he had put away the wands and had begun teaching them about magical beasts. Elvy Balimp, a second-year Gryffindor, had claimed that this change in teaching tactics was because Dalbert had been on vacation in the Amazon and was attacked by several magical beasts including a Lethifold which had nearly killed him. These claims held little water except for the peculiar burn marks around his neck which he refused to divulge. But he had begun warning them against magical creatures and had even brought in live specimens that if were dangerous to hold, he would stun and allow their frozen bodies to be passed around the room. Everyone enjoyed this approach on the dangerous creatures, everyone except for Max. He was disturbed when holding its motionless body as its eyes spun around in its head to figure out what was going on or why it couldn't move. He felt sorry for the beast and Rose had, at one point when passing around a Kappa, taken his wand to keep him from unfreezing the poor thing.

She knew Max loved animals. After he arrived back to the library from detention in the owlery for one, he was covered head to foot in owl dropping, but still looking as satisfied as ever, excitedly telling Rose as she covered her nose due to the smell, about how the owls had thanked him by nuzzling his face. Scorpius, who had come to the library to ask Al for the password to the Slytherin common room, did not look pleased, nor appreciative toward the owl's gratitude. He was heaving with anger, looking and smelling worse than Max, having slipped many times. He stormed from the room as Al laughed and was cursing owls, birds, anything with wings and creature life, at the same time, pulled handfuls of feathers from his robes, hair, pants, and mouth.

Rose wasn't offended, but Hugo rarely hung out with her and Max. they nearly never got to see each other outside of the common room. After hours when they were chilling or catching up on homework, she would try to talk to him, ask him about how his year is going, but he would always seem too preoccupied to give her much attention. He had finally made a guy friend, Obadiah Mosiah, an Arabic boy with shaggy black hair and always eager eyes. They were always busy, not just around Rose. Hugo had started a muggle club with Obadiah, the three pretty girls, Elvy, and Calvert so far. They would scrounge up and order muggle items and have deep discussions about what they are, and what purpose they serve in a corner of the common room at a small table with the most bizarre assortment of items cluttering the area. Louis was a different story all together. He had developed a friendship with Abercrombie Boot and was never seen without his camera. A first year Ravenclaw girl by the name of Olly Garner, Cian Garner's younger sister, was often seen with the two boys and always had her nose stuck in a book as Louis used his school books to prop his feet on while editing photos. He was, in all honesty… _cool_. By comparison to the rest of the family, and thought as such by the rest of his house.

"Weasley!" Seven heads in the great hall looked up as Enoc Hubert came striding up to the Gryffindor table and looked for a mane of curly red hair amongst the many Weasleys. "Uh, that Weasley," he emphasized, pointing to Rose.

Rose looked up from her French toast confusedly as Enoc's sweaty form pressed closer with a look of frustration on his face.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you at tryouts? You're not bailing on the team, are you?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "Why are we having tryouts? This is the best team we've had in a decade!"

"We're not allowed to cancel tryouts anymore. Something about it not being fair for the students who want a shot. Come on! We're about to try for chasers!"

Rose scrambled over Max, forgetting that she could step out from the bench, causing him to spill his cereal on his lap. She ran from the hall, Enoc right beside her. She felt so stupid for thinking that they would keep the same team, especially after Rocky's lecture last year about how that was not okay.

"Have they had beaters tryouts yet?" she asked, becoming slowly out of breath.

"No," Enoc replied. "Beaters are always last, too many injuries."

"Good," she breathed.

"You're not thinking about trying out for that position, are you?" he asked.

"I wanted that position last year," she replied, not liking the tone in his voice. "You better believe I'm giving it a shot this year."

Enoc didn't say anything. "What? You don't think I can?" she asked crossly.

"If you get the position, then either I or Ishmael can't be on the team."

Rose hadn't thought about that; she had been so determined to make it that she hadn't taken into consideration that the position belonged to two of her friends. And the hesitation in his voice made her feel sorry.

"Can't you try for chaser? Or seeker?" Enoc stopped and grabbed her arm.

"Do I look like a seeker to you?" True, he had a thick torso, rather large biceps and even a slightly burly face, every trait a beater is expected to have. He now sounded angry.

"I'll try for both," she shrugged. "If it's true that I'm a better chaser, then I'll get that spot."

"If you ask me, you're a little small to be a beater," he said casually and without looking at her. They were now exiting the castle and stepping onto the warm dry ground of outside.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked with a sideways glance at him.

"Well," he started unconcernedly. "you're a little short to be a beater, your arms aren't thick enough, you're slightly too skinny to be able to withstand bludger attacks, and well… you're a girl."

Rose scowled up at him; he was much taller than she was. She scowled at her own feet as she navigated her way over stumps and rocks. She'd show him, never tell Rose Weasley what she can't do… she'll prove you wrong in an utmost way. Making their way onto the Quidditch field, she found that the stands were crowded with students much bigger and stronger than she was. Rocky was directing students onto brooms as she made her way to the crowd.

"Weasley!" She turned when her name was called and saw Rocky beckoning her over. "Thank God, chaser's about to start, why aren't you in your Quidditch robes? Oh, never mind, hop on your broom."

She had the decision to make and she had three seconds to make it. She took a deep breath. "I'm not trying for chaser," she said with her head up high.

"What?" he barked. "Rose, what do you mean you're not trying for this team?" he lowered his voice and drew closer. "We need you on this team, just look at this lot." The crowd before her who were straddling brooms and waiting for Rocky's say so to take to the sky did look a little scrawny, a little unnatural.

"I'm trying out," she tried. "For beater."

Rocky snorted in an unamused way. "You're not serious."

Rose raised her eyebrows at him.

Rocky wiped the sweat from his upper lip, took her by the arm and drug her quite roughly toward a smaller crowd in the stands. "You see them?" he asked pointing to several very large, burly, strong, Gryffindor males who much resembled bears. "You're competing against them," he growled. "Now come to your senses. It won't happen."

"You said that I did well and could try for beater next year, last year," she huffed, he wasn't making this decision any easier for her.

"I wasn't really watching," he rolled his eyes. "I have a time limit, I can almost guarantee a spot for you as a chaser, but it'll be as unlikely as Filtch collapsing dead in the morning if you try for a beater, what'll it be?

"I gave you my answer!" she said.

"…Okay…okay," he huffed, running his fingers through his wet brown hair and turning to leave. He seemed to change his mind last minute because he spun around real fast to speak to her face. "Just know that without you, we have little to no chance of winning the cup this year." And he spun back around and stomped toward the now scared looking chaser tryouts as Rocky barreled toward them.

Rose glanced at Enoc who whispered something to Ishmael and they both looked at her with disappointment and pity. She looked toward to stands where Max had just sat and saw how small he looked next to the possible beaters and knew that she was almost a head shorter than him. Rose made her way to the stands and sat between two huge guys, thinking that she may have made the wrong choice. Her stomach turned thinking about not being on the team this year. That would be terrible! No more five o'clock practices, no more breakfast boys, no more picnics in the stands, no more Gryffindor victory parties in partly her honor. She glanced at Max who looked from the chasers taking to the sky and back down to her, seemingly confused. After catching on, Rose looked away before she could see his disappointed face that she knew was looking down at her right now. She took her hair and covered her face as she felt many eyes staring down at her.

It seemed like no time, but a whistle blew and she heard Rocky's frustrated voice call for the beaters. She stood up too quickly and tried to pace herself. One of the guys next to her snorted.

"I thought she was a joke. You're not really going to play against us are you, princess?" he said in a deep gruff voice.

"Go put your nose back in a book where it belongs, cupcake!" said his friend.

Rose would have lashed out, but she was too terrified now to do anything.

"What're you laughing about?" asked one of the other guys.

"Strawberry shortcake over here is gonna try'n show us novices how to beat!" the first boy said, grabbing a lock of her hair and tugging on it.

"Shut your traps!" called Rocky. "Real impression to give the captain, picking on a second-year girl with more balls than the all of you combined! Mount your brooms and I don't want to hear another peep. When I blow the whistle, you take to the sky and knock each other off their brooms last two in the air wins the spot!"

"You act as though she's got a chance, Pax," called one of the boys.

"You wait," she heard Rocky mumble.

His words lit a fire in her heart and for some bizarre reason, she thought that she had as good a chance as any of these brutes.

Ishmael and Enoc had just stepped forward from the other side of the pitch and mounted their brooms.

"No hard feelings as you're falling to the ground, alright?" one of them said. "You never had a chance anyway."

Ishmael glared at the guy as Rose felt a rush of rage just before Rocky blew his whistle. The small crowd took to the sky and with a beaters bat in hand, she readied for Rocky to release the bludgers. Rather than two, eight of them were released at once, and the audition began. Within seconds, the last guy that had insulted her was hit in the stomach by Ishmaels' bludger and he glided to the ground. Once, twice, she had to dodge bludgers that were aimed at her. She spun in the air as it seemed all the other guys were trying to take out the weak link first. One good thing about if Rose became a beater is that she takes everything way too personally. She swung that bat toward the bludger imagining that in was the head of the male that called her princess and it zoomed off in the opposite direction and hit Mr. Princess in the head. She grinned at her success and again and again, swung the bat around, not even paying attention to whether she was hitting anyone. It was clear when looking around that the air had thinned dramatically, and it was up to her and whoever was probably behind her. She swung that bat as all eight bludgers seemed to focus their attention on her. That wasn't right, bludgers were supposed to hit as many players off their broom as they could, but here they were, eight of them, flying at her again and again as she continued to hit them away, running out of breath and her arm getting sore. Panting, she noticed eight people on brooms flying to the air to catch one of the eight bludgers. Rose took a breath as she realized that the rock-like balls were no longer trying to kill her, and looked around to see who she was still fighting. To her surprise, nobody else was in the air. A faint whistling was heard from far below and she sped to the ground as Rocky's blurry form came into focus. He was red and sweaty with a wide grin that spread across his face.

"Who won?" she asked stupidly and out of breath.

"You did, you daft cow!" Rocky laughed, grabbing her in a bear hug.

"That doesn't count!" Mr. princess came striding forward and Rocky released Rose with an annoyed expression. "That wanker was defending her!" he yelled, pointing toward Ishmael who was nursing a nasty looking bruise on his shoulder. Ishmael shrugged with a concealed smile.

"That wasn't against the rules," said Rocky irritably. "Strategy and teamwork is essential for a beater; I'm surprised you didn't team up with your buddies."

"That wasn't listed among our options!"

"I didn't give you any options, you idiot! I didn't give you any rules at all. Really, I didn't even say you had to use your bats."

"I demand a re-do!" he called, his face turning red.

"Who gave you the authority to demand anything, huh?" asked Rocky, drawing closer in a venomous tone. "Who are you to demand anything from me?"

She boy swallowed and looked apprehensive and not as brave as he backed up slightly. "My mother is the captain of the-" he started but was cut off by Rocky.

"Don't you think it's time you put your big boy pants on and stop using your mommy card?" he spat.

The boy swelled with anger, then finding that he couldn't win with Rocky, turned to Rose. "You cheated!"

"What'd I do?" she asked indignity.

"You… you… dodged the whole time, didn't even use the bat! Some brave beater you are! Hiding under the protection of Stewart!"

Rose swelled herself. "You're just embarrassed that a second-year girl beat you!" she called, then a smirk spread across her face. "But no hard feelings, you never had a chance anyway, cupcake."

Something like a growl escaped from his mouth and he lunged toward her as if to harm her. Rose, with the bat still in her hand, swung it around to block him. The wooden bat had a date with his jaw as a sickening crunch echoed around and he fell to the ground. The new team, which consisted of every member of the old team except instead of being a beater, Ishmael Stewart was now a chaser (they were the obvious best), leaned over the swelling face.

"Let's hope he wasn't leaning in for an apologetic hug," said Isaac Fisher.


	6. Stewart Breaks His Nose

"It's okay Scorpius, you'll do great!" said Rose as Rocky, Watson Trout and Enoc used their wands to levitate the beater brute off the pitch so that Slytherin could hold their training session.

"That's what you guys said last year." Said Scorpius. His face was sweaty and his knuckles were white around his broomstick as he watched the Slytherins who were trying for keeper, step out to take their turn. He had tried out for the Slytherin team last year, but hadn't successes in holding a spot. Albus, who didn't want to try out, but did because Scor made him, was the successful one and caught a spot as seeker.

"Just give up!" they heard a rude shout from above them. The four friends looked up to see Angelo Stewart, a beater from last year and member of the Salazar's leering down at them. "You're just as likely to made a spot on the team as you are becoming potions professor! 'Oh No! Rosie help me! It's bubbling over!'" Stewart reenacted Scorpius' last potions fiasco with the iron based growth concoction.

Scorpius scowled deeply; he had been really embarrassed of that event. Rose grabbed him by the sleeve to hold him and still and face forward.

"Eat dung!" called Al before also turning around.

"Aw, is Gorpius embarrassed?" he taunted.

"We're the only ones who can call him that!" said Max.

"Ease your temper, Malfoy, wouldn't want you calling your daddy on me. Heard he has blood on his hands. How many mudbloods did he kill? At least thirty, wasn't it? He was in you-know-whose inner circle wasn't he?"

"My father has never killed anyone!" Scorpius spat, red faced turning back around.

"Yes, your father would have been cool if he hadn't married that scum. Not a blood purist is she, your mom? I think it's a crime to associate one's of pure blood and mind with those of the alternative. Bad mix, bad egg." Stewart shoved Scor in the back and he almost fell forward.

"Scor, don't!" Rose called, trying to hold him back. "You can't miss try outs because you're in detention!"

"Having a flower fight your fights? You're weaker than I thought. That Malfoy name hasn't done you well has it?"

"Shut up, Angelo!" Rose called, now holding Max by the robe so that he wouldn't jump on him too. They were both bigger and stronger than she was and could both easily push against her, but she figured that a small barrier is better than none.

"You're one to talk!" Scor shouted, pulling away from Rose's fighting grip to jab a finger at Stewart's chest. "Never had a mum yourself, did you? You're just jealous! Unwanted! That's how you feel! Your own father tells you that!"

"Who told you that?" Stewart growled.

"Poppy has a big mouth." He grinned. "Better choose your friends more carefully."

Stewart's shoved Scorpius back by the chest, hard. He fell against Rose as Stewart's fist could be seen from a mile away as it came streaking for Scorpius' face. A hand grabbed Stewarts wrist while the other slammed his face in in a satisfying crack that Rose assumed was probably his nose. She pushed Scorpius off her and looked over quickly to see Max's stunned face at Al who was holding his fist.

"You mess with one of us, three more will be out for your blood!" Al called angrily at Stewart who was holding his nose, then he grinned at Max, having just quoted exactly what he had said last year when defending a friend.

Stewart scrambled to his feet and took off in the opposite direction, making a rude hand gesture at them all. There were scattered applause from the surrounding crowd of Slytherins.

"Thank God." Said Olive Farmore, a Slytherin chaser from last year. "I don't know what I would have done if he made it on the team this year."

Rose, Max, and Al looked back over at Scorpius who was still red faced with rage; Rose thought that it was probably the jab at his mother that had got him. A distant whistle blew as the Slytherin captain, Keith, beckoned the players over.

"Excuse me." Scor growled before grabbing his broom and taking off toward the sky with enough force to knock Al off his feet.

Rose watched, perplexed as Scor preformed his tasks in the most efficient way and with such ease. The try out didn't last long at all for beaters. Scor came shooting toward the ground and Max grabbed the broom from his hand in fear that he would hit someone with it. For being a skinny twelve-year-old boy, be looked dangerous.

"Where's Stewart?" he said without looking around him. "I want to-"

"You don't have to do anything." Said Max, grabbing Scor by the hood of his robes to stop him, playing a _Rose_ as the others called it. "I think Al has taken care of it."

Scor looked down at Al's hands folded together and pulled them apart to find his right fist slightly bruised. Scorpius' face of anger became a face of pity mixed with amusement.

"How did it-?" Scor started.

"It felt good." Al finished, grinning.

"It should've been me." He huffed.

"Nah, what are friends for?" said Al.

"For punching whiney sod's faces in." Scor said, wrapping an arm around Al's neck and heading toward the exit of the pitch. "For each other." He added, taking Max around the neck too.

Max put an arm around Rose and they all walked off the pitch together.

Scorpius had forgotten about his rage at Stewart and sat at the Gryffindor table eating eggs a couple days after. Al had gotten detention after Stewart went crying to the Professors. He had yet to serve it, his punishment having yet to be made. As always at this time, hundreds of owls came swooping in from an upper window to drop letters and packages among to students. Feathers were falling toward the food and Scorpius, who had been staring up, looking for something, got a handful of feathers in his eggs and pumpkin juice.

"Awe…" he said, picking the feathers out.

"You know to guard your food, Scor." Said Al, enjoying his feather free omelet.

"I'm just eager for our Quidditch results." He said, looking disappointed.

"You did great, Scor, I can almost guarantee you have a spot." Al assured him.

Quidditch captain, Keith, had for the past two years, taken notes on the try outs and not revealed to results on whose to make the team until a couple days of process. Rose thought that this was a good strategy though not being a very common one.

"Potter! Malfoy!" They looked up to see Keith walking up to them with two emerald green envelopes in his hand.

Scorpius' eyes lit up with excitement. "Hand delivering this year, are you?" said Al, tearing his open as Scor stared starry eyed at his.

"You two made the team." Said Keith, "Congrats. Last year I had delivered the letters to everyone who had tried out and that was a bad idea."

"Why?"

"Because the ones were sore about losing, took their anger out on those who made a spot. Wolin Warbeck was runner up to Trish Castkey, but she couldn't play because Iren Bolomskee sent her to the hospital wing."

Scor continued to stare at his letter, half excited, half terrified as Keith walked away.

"Oh, give me that." Said Rose, reaching over, tearing it open and putting it back in his hand. The note read,

 _Chasers- Olive Farmore_

 _Alexander Pepsy_

 _Zeak Andersen_

 _Beaters- Scorpius Malfoy_

 _Micheal Kennedy_

 _Keeper- Paul Keith_

 _Seeker- Albus Potter_

Scorpius stood up and shook the letter in his hand as Rose laughed.

"Keith already said you made the team, why are you so surprised?"

"I'm gonna write to grandad!" Scorpius yelped. "He said I couldn't do it, well look at me now! Be right back!"

Al had just reached for the orange juice, but was startled to dropping it when a high, squeaky voice called, " _Potter!_ " Al looked down to see Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, standing only tall enough for his head to meet Al's elbow.

"Yes, Professor?" asked Al.

"Your detention will be served tonight by the great lake. Meet me in the entrance hall by nine o'clock tonight. You will be de-littering the shore so bring something you don't mind getting wet, and don't bother bringing your wand, no magic allowed."

"Professor, can't I get a hearing? I don't see why I'm the only one getting detention." Al pleaded.

"Did you, or did you not punch Angelo Stewart in the nose."

"I did but-"

"And did he deserve it?"

"Yes…" said Al obviously.

"…Stupid question to ask, you wouldn't have punched him in the face if you didn't think he deserved it. No matter, you assaulted him. Fists and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you."

"That's the dumbest rhyme I've ever heard." Said Al. "Are we talking physically? Or emotionally? Because emotional abuse causes much more lasting damage than-"

"Enough, Potter!" Flitwick squeaked. "Tonight, entrance hall, nine o'clock!" and he turned to leave.

"You need to learn when to shut your mouth, Al." said Max.


	7. A Mysterious Scream

Albus Potter sat on the black leather couch of the Slytherin common room uncomfortable at how worn the couch felt. He spun a Rubik's cube, wandering how in the world muggles found this fun. Al chucked the cube across the room where his best friend had to duck to avoid it colliding with his skull.

"What's got you in such a sour mood?" Scorpius asked with a quill between his teeth, placing a large stack of books on the coffee table in front of them.

"Detention." Al grunted.

"Yeah? What'd you have to do?"

"Clean up the lake shore." He replied, leaning over to read Scorpius' nearly finished potions essay.

"That's not too bad." Said Scor. "I just wish we would have punched Stewart in the face together, that way we could take a night swim."

"The teachers would never put us in detention together, they know we'd never get any work done."

"I've got good news though." Scor said excitedly. He held out a long white feather. "Free quill! The owl was fighting me so badly when I was trying to strap my letter to its leg, that I accidentally pulled out a tail feather… it didn't like that." He said holding up a bandaged hand, then he leaned over and popped one of his spare calligraphy tips to the end of the stem. "But check it out! These things run a three sickles a piece down in Diagon Alley!"

"Good for you, really, but I wouldn't be waving that in front of Max, he wouldn't take kindly for the precious wild life to lose a tail feather. Sorry to rain on your parade bud, but this information is all wrong." He said handing the essay back to his friend. "I think you were getting it confused with Transfiguration half way through."

Scorpius groaned and dipped his new quill in a bottle of ink and began scribbling on the parchment that was his essay.

"It's probably best just to start over." Said Al, looking at the large black clock above the mantel piece. "I've gotta go." He sighed, standing up and stretching; he had already changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"Do you want me to wait up?" Scor asked, fitting his reading glasses to his nose.

"I want you to go to sleep as soon as you finish that essay, find your wand and pack for tomorrows lessons."

"Yes, mum." Scor taunted.

Al walked through the darkened passages. It was all very frightening. He had snuck out after dark before, multiple times, but he was normally always with Scorpius. He had ignored Flitwick's request and had brought her wand anyway. He had no intention of using it for his detention, but it did come in handy as a light to navigate his way through the dark dungeons. Cobwebs littered the ceiling and corners above and around him.

"Shut that light out! We're trying to sleep!" called one of the many portraits that hung on the walls. These paintings were always rather grumpy, Al supposed he would be too if his owner decided to hand him on a narrow dungeon wall to be hustled and scuffed up by many Slytherin shoulders going to and from every day.

"Excuse me not wanting to trip and break my neck." Al argued, lowering his wand.

"You watch your tongue young man!" it called after him.

"I'm a Slytherin, what do you expect? Kisses?" Al retorted. That's one of the things he enjoyed about being in Slytherin, he could get away with saying or doing the darndest things because it's not out of a Slytherins character.

Al jumped away to avoid a spider scuttling across the floor and by his feet. He was often surprised by Hogwarts logic. Of course, the house whose color is green, whose mascot is a serpent, and whose sleeping place is in the dungeons, is going to become more edgy than those who have the luxury of sleeping in a tower with the view of the sunset. What do they have? The murky green of the lake and only torch light. Of course, many of his house is going to act like trolls when they're kept under the ground for seven years.

"Good evening Professor Snape." Al mumbled to one of the many portraits of this greasy haired, hooked nose, professor around the castle that never seemed to sleep.

"Evening, Severus Potter." He replied tonelessly.

"It's Albus." He corrected for the millionth time, continuing to walk.

"I like Servers better." Snape replied with his nose in the air.

Al rolled his eyes and continued, finally emerging from the underground and seeing the welcoming sign of moonlight shining through the windows. He had long since been at a lack of breath after the climb from Slytherin common room to the level ground and no longer emerged clutching a stich in his chest and heaving.

He tried to silence his stomping footsteps against the stone floor. He was startled by a loud screeching meow, and faced his wand into the face of Nixson, one of Filtch's (the grumpy old caretaker) cats. The thing hissed at him and circled his legs as Al tried to ignore it.

"Get away from me." He growled at it. The cat continued to circle his legs causing Al to stumble over it. "I said get away or I swear I'll kick you." He warned again. The cat didn't leave, it continued to hiss. Al gave it a sharp jab in the side with his foot, causing it to leap aside and hiss before scurrying off, no doubt to tattletale to Filtch.

"Ah, there you are Potter." Flitwick's voice ushered him over. "You have everything you need?"

"Yes, Professor." He said.

"You didn't bring your wand?"

Al hid the recently snuffed out wand behind his back. "No sir." He lied.

"Then come along."

Flitwick stopped and turned to see Filtch waddle up, red faced, with Nixon in arm.

"Yes, Filtch, can I help you?" asked Flitwick looking annoyed.

"This boy kicked my cat!" he exclaimed in his trademark wheezy voice.

"What? Do you speak cat or something?" Al asked angrily.

"So you admit it!" Filtch shouted, baring his yellow cracked teeth. "He admits it Professor!"

"Filtch, nobody likes your cats, I, myself, am guilty for kicking a couple of them. Now come along Potter." Flitwick grabbed Al by the elbow and directed him to the oak front doors, leaving a furious and disappointed Filtch behind.

There wasn't much to go on, Flitwick just said to clean up any trash or debris on the shore and collect it in the garbage bags. He'll come check on his work in a few hours. The tiny professor walked away and Al was left standing there with a trash bag in one hand, a trash grabber in the other and felt like the inmates in the muggle prisons on the television that his dad had showed him. He continued his work. These students were slobs, probably Gryffindors too, no offense to Rose and Max, but really, those guys are party animals. Butterbeer cans, abandoned quills, broken glass, hair ties, papers, shoes, and slime littered the area. Al got distracted and began reading abandoned homework papers, sitting cross legged in the grass.

"The Scuttle tongue was discovered to be a valuable potions ingredient in 1763, you idiot, not 1492, that's when Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue… I think." He mumbled to the invisible person wo had once written this essay.

Al scribbled out the wrong answers and misspelled words with one of the abandoned quills and looked at the tide to see how much time he had left. More than two hours. He flipped the soggy, ripped parchment over to read the name scribbled on the back. _Albus Potter_. Al was shocked and embarrassed that he was responsible for writing this horrible excuse for an essay and tried to remember if he had lost a half-finished paper last year.

"What were you thinking young Albus Potter?" he asked himself, looking at the misspelled words.

Suddenly, a small splash was heard from the lake surface. Al spun around, he knew that there lived a giant squid in this lake, but it rarely comes that close to shore and the splash was much too small to be made my such a large creature. Al turned back around slowly, deciding that it was probably nothing to interest him. He stood up and began the dull work that was picking cat turds from the grass.

"Whose there!" Al said suddenly, turning around after dropping his garbage back and pointing his wand's illuminated tip toward the source of the sound. He could have sworn that he heard music coming from the lake, a faint humming. He crept closer toward the sand by the edge of the lake. Al tilted his head to read peculiar markings in the sand. They must have been made very recently because they were right by the tide that hadn't washed them away yet. He spun to make out to markings from right-side up and he shone his wand light on what he now knew, were letters. Al squinted and drew closer to the ground until he was crouched to see the sloppy letters. His eyes widened as he made out what they said, horribly misspelled, but undoubtedly read, _Albs Poddr_.

Abls Poddr? Albus Potter! Al shot his wand to face the lake's surface when a sudden and terrifying screech type scream issued from the weeds that he was crouched beside. Al jumped out of his skin and bolted from the lake as fast as his feet could carry him, trying to catch his breath and lower his gasping. He didn't stop running until he burst into the Slytherin common room many floors below and collapsed onto the carpet. Al jumped over the couch to peer through the murky green lake behind the large stretch of window.

 _What the Heck was that?_

He snuffed out the light on his wand and tried to relive what had just happened. He was by the lake when he heard a faint humming, then a bad version of his name was fingered into the sand, then a terrible war cry from directly beside him sounded. What? He thought that this shouldn't have scared him as much as it had, after all, this was a magical castle with magical grounds and magical beasts. But maybe that's was he was afraid of, what if it was a magical beast? Professor Dalbert had done well in making every student who took his class terrified of them.

Al sat cross legged by the dying embers of the fire which was enchanted to burn, surprise, surprise, green. There was little light, most of the green glass bobbles that hung by chains from the giant dome ceiling to give light to the room had gone out after ten, and the balcony that stretched all the way around the common room glowed no more. Al decided to tell Scorpius. He grabbed one of his friend's forgotten school books and rushed down the stairs to his room. The lights had already been turned out, all except for a small glowing ball of light on his bedside table that Al knew Scor had left for him. He walked over the marble floors and around the stone fountain that was infamous for breaking toes, and sat on his bed before removing his shoes and used the incantation ' _Nightliento_ ' to summon moonlight from his wand before placing his wand against his potted umple shrub to feed it for a couple minutes.

"Scor!" Al whispered, shaking his friend who was sprawled out, shirtless on his many homework papers, fast asleep. "Scorpius, wake up!"

"Wh-?" Scor shifted and tried to open his tired eyes.

"Scor! Something truly freaky just happened!" Al said.

"Are we in danger?" he asked.

"What? No."

"Then tell me in the morning." Scorpius rolled back over on his four-poster bed and curled up under his emerald green sheets.

Al reached out again to shake him back awake, but changed his mind, realizing that it wasn't really that big of a deal and that it was be insensitive to wake Scorpius up.

Al laid at the bottom of his bed, using his wand to emit bubbles that never popped when hitting the cold marble floor and was trying to see how tall be can make his bubble tower when a shadow glided across the floor over his bubbles. Al sat up abruptly and peered around the room, but nothing was there. With a hesitant glance toward the wall length window, he laid back down on his stomach and continued not being able to sleep. _Albs Poddr_ he wrote on the floor with his wand. The shadow swept by again, thin and flexible, it twirled and a slap was heard from the window. Al dropped his wand and rushed over to it, not having to go far because his bed was the closest to the window anyway. Al examined the glass. He could see nothing from outside except the sand, weeds and stone of the lake ground, and the roots that grow beneath. He sighed and looked up before catching his breath. He ran over and pressed his nose to the glass to see what looked like a muddy handprint on the other side. But it didn't look like his hand, besides being smaller, it looked more like a duck foot… Al hurried over to find the closest pen and paper around before the print was washed away. He hurried over and ignoring the writing that was already on the parchment, held the paper to the window and traced the design, thanking Merlin that he wasn't such a poor artist.

Al spent the rest of the night re-writing Scorpius' potions essay that he had unknowingly used to trace the print from the window. It was better this way, he was able to correct most of Scor's work, leaving a few breaks in sentences and wrong answers so that the Professors didn't find it suspicious. Then he laid on his bed and slipped under his green blankets to stare up at the drawings and cheat sheets for school that he had plastered to the ceiling above his bed. He tried to figure out what the source of the noise was. It was most likely something that lived in the lake considering the less than human hand print, but it wasn't the giant squid, it couldn't have been a merperson because they aren't familiar with the English alphabet and can't spell, not to mention they can't understand human speech so she wouldn't have been able to hear him say his own name by the lake which he had concluded was how the thing had known to write it in the first place. Al closed his eyes, he would investigate more in the morning.


	8. Duck Prints in the Sand

"Scorpius, I'm telling you!" Al said on the way toward Transfiguration after breakfast. Al had decided not to tell Rose about the other night. She took every small thing and had a habit of blowing it out of proportion. And since the strange happenings from last year and Rose's near death experience, she thought that every odd little thing was a threat on her or Max's life. "I was by the lake, whatever it was, scribbled my name into the sand, then it screamed, then it left a hand print that I scribbled on your essay!" Al waved the traced over writing in from of Scor's face. "And the shadow!"

"Al…" said Scorpius patiently, with a stack of book pressed against his chest, his bag having been torn days ago.

"I'm not crazy!" Al interrupted.

"I'm not saying you are," said Scorpius. "Just, maybe you didn't see what you think you saw."

"But I had to!"

"Have you stopped to think that you may just be inventing this whole thing to make an adventure for yourself?"

Al stopped walking and looked at him. "Why would I do that?"

Scor grabbed Al by the arm and pulled him to continue walking. "I know you were a little disappointed to have missed the whole shebang with Belladonna Drury. I know you would have wanted to go, and you would have jumped in that fire too if I hadn't held you back."

"That's not true!" Al protested, now walking up the stairs.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow at Al. "I was a little disappointed too, but you can't take something small and blow it out of proportion."

"But look at this!" Al thrust the parchment into Scorpius' face again; he would have shown him the real thing if it hadn't been washed away during the night. "Does this not look real? Do you think I made it up?"

"It looks like a duck foot, Al," said Scorpius, pushing the paper down and lowering his voice as they entered the classroom and took their usual seats on the second row. "And I told you, I don't think you're crazy. I believe everything you've said to me; you've never made anything up before. I'll go to the lake with you during lunch, and we can investigate there. But right now," Scor grinned broadly and sat up straight with his wand in hand. "I'm going to learn how to turn a rat into a hat!"

Al laid on his desk and burnt his name into the wood. He would have been interested in the lesson, but his mind was on other things. Al was happy to have a friend like Scor, someone who would listen to you say something utterly bizarre and promises to investigate anyway. Al was just anticipating the end of class, he had History of Magic after this, a chance to get some well-needed sleep, then they can go by the lake in the half hour that was lunch.

Scorpius, as usual, was the first in the class that had mastered the spell and was awarded ten points. With several 'pop's' he was turning the rat into a hat, and back again. He settled with wearing it on his head, waiting for Al to succeed. Unfortunately, Al had never been superb at Transfiguration, much better than Max of course, but still, sitting next to the Transfiguration king himself wasn't making him look any better. Worse for him was that Olivia Merik was watching him with a furry hat in front of her. He didn't know whether she was teasing him with her finished work or trying to make him feel nervous and sweaty. She always threw her shiny black hair behind her and turned around in her seat to watch his progress with her bright blue eyes after she finished; he almost never succeeded when she was watching. Poppy, on the other hand, was having just as much difficulty. Al would watch with glee as she became more and more frustrated and it always prompts him to work harder, swearing to himself that she wasn't going to succeed before he did, and it generally worked.

After dropping the hats, rats, and deformed cap with eyes and whiskers into the floating basket, they were dismissed with a heaping pile of homework to do. Al left the classroom, trying to fix his hair from where the rat had attacked his head half way through class. He felt a soft hand brush against his arm and turned to see Olivia walk pass.

"Good work today, Albus," She smiled at him before hurrying off to walk with her friends.

Al stood still in the hall for a moment, watching her walk away. He blinked out of it as a smacking noise met his ears and turned to see Scorpius making excessive kissing noises.

"Oh, shut up," Al said turning red and pushing him away.

Unfortunately, he pushed his friend into Poppy Parkinson who staggered back and shoved Scorpius into Al again.

"Get off me you rat!" she hissed. "You're lucky I don't pulverize you right now."

"I'd like to see you try," said Al through gritted teeth at the Slytherin girl much larger than he or Scor was.

"You would, would you?" she said, bearing down on them.

"What's stopping you?" said Scorpius standing upright again.

"It seems nothing," she growled, reaching for her wand.

One sharp smack hit each of them on the head. They looked up to see Professor Donima before them, looking sternly from one to the other. "There will be no trouble made in my hall, you understand?"

"Yes, Professor," Al and Scor grunted.

Donima looked down at Poppy. "Yes, Professor," she hissed back.

"Good, now run along." Poppy scowled at the three of them before storming away. Al and Scor stopped to wave at Max and Rose who were just entering the Transfiguration classroom, Rose looking excited, Max looking as though he was dreading what was going to happen next.

History of Magic was as dull as ever. Al, not being able to sleep, occupied himself with staring at Olivia's braid and trying to work out how in the world girls twist those things. Scorpius was taking notes with his new quill in hand and head on his elbow. Professor Binns was the only ghost teacher whose tone never changed and whose class never became more interesting. Everybody left the class, stretching and yawning like they always did and Al grabbed Scorpius by the arm and tried to drag him to the oak front doors toward the lake. Scor dropped the papers that he was trying to shove into his History of Magic book and leaned down to retrieve them. Al bent down too and Poppy made an effort to step on each and every one of the pages with her oversized boots.

"Find a hobby, Parkinson," Olivia huffed before Al could stab his quill into Poppy's shoe. Olivia knelt as well and helped gather the papers before handing them to Al and walking away without a word.

"Al, I'm eating something first," Scor said standing up and taking the stack from Al.

"But we won't have time!" Albus exclaimed.

"Ten minutes! Just ten minutes to eat and then we can spend the next twenty at the lake."

Al couldn't deprive his friend of food, it would be insensitive, especially because his friend was using his free time to follow him to the lake for a ridiculous claim.

"Why are you guys in such a hurry?" asked Rose in surprise as the two boys gobbled up their lunch as fast as possible.

"Yeah," Max chimed in. "You're starting to eat a bit like Rose."

Al glanced at Scorpius and back down at his plate, allowing his friend to take up the challenge of lying, Scor had always been better at it anyway.

"Al left a pair of his shoes by the lake last night," Scor shrugged convincingly.

"How were you able to make it all the way back to the castle without noticing that you weren't wearing any shoes?" asked Max.

"He was scared off by a keppa," said Scor.

"Oh, well we would offer to join you, but we're heading to the hospital wing after this."

"Why? Did Max singe himself again?"

"No." Rose pulled back her hair to show a blue welt on her forehead. "He accidentally turned his rat to stone which freaked him out, and he flung it halfway across the room, half way because my head was there to block it."

"Why don't you go to the hospital wing now?"

"Because History of Magic is next," said Max. "and if we wait until last minute, we'll be in the hospital wing partly through our class."

"Sneaky," smiled Scorpius. "Let me see that." He leaned forward to see Rose's injury and Al took Scorpius' nearly finished sandwich and slid it into his own pocket. Scorpius always took forever to eat anything and maybe Scor might not remember not finishing it.

Al looked up to find Max staring confusedly at him, then at his pocket with his goblet halfway to his mouth, and then he looked back up. Al put his finger to his own mouth, and Max made a gesture to zip his mouth and throw away the key before rolling his eyes amusedly.

"Lunch is over, come on Scor." Al took his friend by the sleeve and pulled him away.

"You could have let me finish eating," Scorpius said, pulling away from Al and smoothing his robe.

"Here." Al handed him his half-eaten sandwich which Scorpius turned his nose up to as he pulled the potion ingredient debris from Al's pocket, off the bread. Scorpius gave it back to Al, uninterested, who slipped it back into his pocket without thinking.

Heading to the lake took a lot longer than they would have thought. After navigating over stumps and stones, the two boys had reached the lake which was completely deserted. Classes were starting soon, and nobody wanted to take the chance of being late. The trash bag and picker-upper were missing, and Al assumed that Flitwick had retrieved it when coming down to check his work.

"Just over here," Al said, hurrying and almost tripping over a root protruding from the ground; Scorpius caught him by his hood; Al was nearly as clumsy as Rose was. They jumped off the bank and took a couple of paces in the sand.

They stopped in front of the area that his name had been written. He stared at something even more peculiar that had replaced it. On the sand in front of the lake was written with twigs the words, _Albs Poddr._ Besides that, was the same words, except written with stones, then seaweed, then barnacles.

Scorpius knelt to examine the twigs. "And you're not just trying to pull my leg?" he asked.

"Sure, because I have to time to hunt down barnacles just for a laugh," Al retorted.

"You could have been bored during detention," said Scor without looking up from the sand, but Al knew that Scorpius didn't really think that he was playing him. "Give me that tracing," said Scorpius still withholding eye contact.

Al ripped the paper from his bag and thrust it into Scor's outstretched hand. "Does this look the same to you?" he asked, holding the print next to one of the many smudged duck like hand prints that cluttered the ground around where the name was scribbled.

"That's the same print I saw on the window in our dormitory!" said Al excitedly.

"Well, I will admit that it is peculiar, but I don't think that it's a danger as long as we stay away from it," said Scorpius, standing up.

"Stay away?" Al asked incredulously. "Don't you want to find out what this thing is? Or why it's so fascinated by my name?"

"Right now, I want to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts," Scorpius started back up the hill and cursed under his breath as it began to rain.

"Are you crazy?" Al asked, chasing after him. "Didn't you say that you were upset that you didn't get to have an adventure like Rose and Max last year? This is an opportunity and there! Right there, in the sand is proof that this is for real! A mystery, Scor!"

"After lessons, we'll go to the library and check it out, okay? But come on! We're already late!" Scorpius broke into a run, forcing Al to run too, but at a quicker pace; he was noticeably shorter than Scor and therefore had to run to keep up.

Albus Potter was preoccupied in D.A.D.A. He kept trying to figure out what books they would search, and what excuse they would use for searching in completely unrelated books than their school ones later; the four friends always met up and studied in the library together. They would first have to search underwater dwellers, then maybe creatures with the ability to read or write, rather intelligent beasts, or perhaps look for magical occurrences on the water bed.

"Potter!" Al looked up to see Dalbert staring disapprovingly at him and to the side to see Alac Mishpetsie shoving a stunned water demon repeatedly against his arm so that he would take it. "Preoccupied?" Dalbert asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Can water demons spell?" Al asked hurriedly. The class stared at him as if he were mad and Alac Mishpetsie rolled his eyes and leaned on the demon's horns which had large marshmallows to cushion the tips.

"No more than you can," hissed Poppy.

The Ravenclaws that the Slytherins were having class with seemed to ponder the question as they always did to bizarre or unordinary ideas.

"No, no, Parkinson," said Dalbert, staring at Al. "Mr. Potter, I have never asked a water demon if it can spell but according to studies, the creature has a rather small brain and a short memory. I would not say that the beast can read, or write, or spell."

Al bowed his head again, feeling stupid.

"Just a matter of curiosity, what made you ask?"

Al looked up; he didn't feel like trying to explain in front of the whole class something that nobody would believe. "Process of elimination," he replied truthfully.

Dalbert looked at him a moment longer, then opened his mouth to continue about the water demon's venomous horns. "Just," Al interrupted. "Are there any sea beasts that _can_ spell?"

"I suppose the Jirbbies, they have always been fascinated by the study of our markings, but they don't speak our language if that helps at all in your special secret mystery." Dalbert looked at his golden wrist watch. "I think that's enough for the water demon, why don't you all take out your wands and I'll show you how to- Holy Hell, Alac! NO!"

The class jumped and stared at the bulge in Alac's mouth, and the absence of a marshmallow on the water demon's horn. Alac's eyes widened with fear as Dalbert swooped over and dug the sweet from the boy's mouth.

"EW!" Alac exclaimed. "You could have asked me to spit it out!"

"Poison, Mishpetsie! Didn't you hear me explicitly say 'posion'?"

"Yeah, the horns, but I just age the marshmallow."

"That was absorbing the poison that the demon was trying to spit at you all!"

Alac started gagging in fear while Dalbert took him under the arm to lead him out of the class.

"Miss Daniel, you're in charge. Potter, don't let anyone touch the water demon," he called behind him before leaving the door open as he left.

Al looked at the eyes and the stunned beast as they glared at Al, a small stream of liquid flowing from his unguarded horn. The room remained silent for a moment. Unfortunately, the silence was torn by Poppy's voice which quite literally made Al sick to hear it.

"There's no stupid teachers to stop me from pulverizing you now."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Why do you want to beat us up so badly? Seriously, we've never made the first move. What are you trying to prove?"

Poppy scowled deeply. "Not as brave as you were in the hall, are you?"

"So you admit that we were brave?" said Scorpius with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Poppy called getting heavily to her feet only to be hit with what looked to be a gust of wind that forced her back into her seat.

Poppy tried again but was blown back down. Al looked around to find Olivia sitting cross-legged on her desk with her wand pointed lazily at Parkinson.

"You little-!" Poppy growled, trying four more times to stand, but with no victory.

"Listen, Poppy," Olivia started. "Nobody likes you; seriously, nobody in this room would care to see you expelled. But nobody in this room has any problem with these two," she gestured toward Al and Scor. "So, if you're thinking about starting a fight, just know that over half the class won't hesitate to join their side." There was a murmur of agreement.

Poppy ceased her attempts of standing and took to scowling with her arms crossed at Olivia.

"You know you've just been added to her list?" Scorpius leaned forward to whisper.

"I was already on her list," she replied. "I've read it."

"Scor, how are we gonna research water beasts in front of Rose without her finding it suspicious?" Al asked as they unpacked their bags in their dormitories after class before heading toward the library.

"Easy, we lie," Scor replied.

"Easy for you," Al said opening all his school books on the ledge by the vast stretch of the underground window so that he would remember to get to them when he comes back up.

"Just let me do the talking," Scorpius said. "We could just make an excuse and study down here."

"We haven't seen them all day," said Al. "They're our friends."

"Except for Rose," Scor said slipping on his blue jacket and heading toward their door.

"What do you mean?" Al asked, following.

"Well she's your cousin, isn't she? Can you really call her your friend when she's family first?"

"Of course I can. Your family can be your best friends."

"I guess I wouldn't understand. All my family is old. Why don't you hang out with James more then? He just seems more like you. Don't get me wrong; I love Rose, but she is a little bossy."

"Just think about where we'd be without her, though," Al said, emerging into their common room.

"We wouldn't get anything done."

Twenty minutes later, Scorpius and Al were sitting at a library table with dozens of books sprawled out in front on them, papers and notes littered the area, and Al was lightly banging his head on page 243 of _Natural Water Occurrences._ Rose looked up from her tidy workspace.

"Banging your head only causes brain damage." She reminded him. "What are you doing with _Barnacles Beyond the Bay_ anyway?" she asked, picking up the top book from Scorpius' pile and reading the cover with raised eyebrows and a quill in her curly red hair.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Al, now rubbing his aching forehead. "For the water demon summery."

"I thought we only had to describe how the water demon, or Kelpie, devours his prey! See? That's what I wrote down for homework!" she said, shoving her notebook under his nose and jabbing her finger at her neat swirly notes as if frantic.

"Extra credit," said Al, wishing he had left the lying to Scorpius. Scor had his head on his elbow and was watching Al with amusement as he tried for explanations. It's different when you're lying to a teacher, but Rose won't cease until she had all the facts.

"Why didn't he tell us about getting extra credit? What, does he think that we can't handle the work?" she huffed.

Al widened his eyes at Scorpius for help. "The Slytherins aren't as accomplished in Dalbert's class as the Gryffindors are," Scor finally decided to help. "We need extra credit work if we're gonna pass our tests."

Rose seemed content because she smiled and got back to work. If you ever wanted her off your back, you simply need to compliment her, all else before that point will be lost. Max, who had been looking up from his writing during the conversation, rolled his eyes and looked back down.

Al pulled from his pocket the now wrinkled and smudged tracing of the duck hand and began having Scorpius compare it with the prints from the sea tracking extra pull page from the thick book Scor was shuffling through. Al looked up, suddenly aware that Max was staring at them again. He dropped his quill and turned to Rose.

"Rosie, where's the book on waterweeds for potions?" he asked suddenly.

"Max, I told you," she said dropping her book frustrated. "It's in the section clearly labeled 'potions' on the shelve clearly labeled 'weeds.'" She said pointing directly down the aisle labeled 'potions.'

"I looked all up and down that hall, and it's not there right now," he argued.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course, it is." she said looking back down at her book.

"No, it's not," Max huffed.

Rose dropped her book again and stared at him. "Max, it's in alphabetical order, it's not that hard."

"It's not there. Some kid must have grabbed it."

"Do you want me to go look for it?" she breathed.

"You can look all up and down, but you won't find it."

"Don't tell me what I can't do," she said standing up and striding away.

Al and Scor looked back down at their massive stack of study. Albus was hit in the face with small pellets and looked up in surprise to see Max with a handful of rice he was throwing it at him.

"What are you doing?" Al said, swatting them away irritably.

"Where'd you get rice?" Scorpius decided to ask.

Max shrugged, "It was on the table." He wiped his hands free of the grain. "A more pressing question, now that Rose is gone, are you going to tell me what you're really up to? Extra credit? Not a convincing answer."

"Rose bought it," Al shrugged.

"That's because you flattered her, it's easy enough, now I'm not gonna force you to tell me anything but guys… really…"

Al glanced at Scorpius before hurriedly mumbling everything; there wasn't much to tell yet anyway.

"Let me see the print," he said before taking it from Scor. "…It looks like a duck foot."

"At the bottom of the lake?" Al asked with raised eyebrows.

"No," Max thought. "But perhaps the footprints on the sand were, just a thought." Max looked back down at the tracing. "And this is all the evidence you have?" the two boys nodded. "Did you not take a picture of the words from lunch today?"

"We didn't have time," said Al.

"Why can't Rose know about this? It's not anything dangerous at the moment."

"We just don't want her running around with the wrong ideas; you know how she likes to make a mountain out of a molehill," said Al hurriedly.

" _He_ doesn't," said Scor, jabbing his thumb at Al. "I don't mind her knowing." Al glared at Scorpius.

"No, I know what you mean," said Max, thinking. "You don't want her to take control of the situation; you want this to be your mystery."

"No!" Al lied quickly.

"You're a terrible liar," said Max amusedly. "But I think that the circulation on the moon does indeed matter, if not then we would never have- Oh, there you are Rose!" Max smiled, stopping mid-sentence and making Al now understand why he had staged an entirely unrelated conversation.

Rose was stomping overlooking upset and without a book under her arm. "Do you think I'm stupid?" she asked and Al was worried that she had been listening to their whole discussion. "I remember seeing you pull that bloody book off the shelve." She pulled the thick book that Max had his elbow resting on and thrust it into his chest. "To try'n waste my time," she grumbled.

"Oh, will you look at that?" she said, pretending not to have known the whole time. "You did spend a good three minutes searching before you remembered me grabbing it, though."

The two boys packed up, bid their friend's goodnight, and started toward their dormitory. "Do you think it was right to tell Max?" Al asked.

"I don't see why this is so secretive," said Scorpius, ignoring Al's question.

"Because-!" Al started.

"Because Rose will blow it out of proportion, take the whole thing upon herself, Max tells her everything, and they both could do with a nice quiet year at Hogwarts." Scorpius finished in a rehearsed voice. "But, it was Max who shared his entire story and his ransom letter with us last year," he continued. "The least we can do is tell _him_ the truth."

"Yes, but it was him telling us that made us all overreact, hold him back and what made Rose jump into the floo after him. If he would never have told us, then he would have carried out his plan without us as barriers for him. Sure, he probably would have been dead, but Rose wouldn't have gone through what she did."

"Are you saying it wasn't smart of him to tell us?" Scorpius asked. "Ambition," he said the password and the blank stretch of stone wall before him opened allowing them to walk through to the common room.

"It was a good thing to do, not a smart thing. Besides, Max can't lie. He's usually able to come up with a quick deception, but what if Rose asks the wrong questions?"

"You know, I don't think that whatever this thing is, is a problem," said Scor taking the long way across the common room so not to disturb Poppy's poker game. "I mean, it doesn't hurt you, all the thing does is spell in the sand what may or may not be your name."

"It was defiantly my name!" Al interrupted.

Scor looked over at him disbelieving.

"You were just convinced this morning!" Al snapped.

"I'm just trying to be realistic. We looked all through water beast and sand dwellers, none of them would have been able to do that writing. Are you sure there wasn't anyone else with you last night?"

"Only Flitwick!" Al exclaimed, angry that his friend had suddenly decided to change his entire look on an adventure and try to categorize the incident as mundane. "What? You think that Flitwick was hiding in the bushes, humming, screeching, and writing messages in the sand?"

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying?"

"Don't get all huffy with me, Al," Scorpius scorned. "I'm just asking you not to jump to conclusions; this is not a huge mystery. It's probably not even a big deal."

"Then what about the print on the outside of our glass?"

"It was probably just a leaf that smacked against the window."

Al pushed open their dormitory door to find Alac Mishpetsie, Ethan Holac, and Quin Bryan pressed close to the window. Al squinted and pressed closer; he couldn't see well from a distance. As he drew closer, he noticed that the vast stretch of window was covered in writing. Big cat scratch writing with something black and slimy, were the words, _Albs Poddr,_ again and again, backward across the glass until the window was hardly transparent.

Al's other three roommates turned around slowly with a wide eyes expression at him. Al looked over at Scorpius' stunned face and smiled pompously.


	9. Al's Obsession

"There was what?" Max asked during breakfast the next morning. He was leaning in interestedly as Al talked freely, Rose being at Quidditch practice.

"Writing, on the outside of our window, in tar probably, that's the only thing that would have lasted so long; half of it was worn away by this morning," Al summed up. "Scor here thought that it was all a spoof," he said, jabbing a thumb at Scorpius who was filling containers with breakfasts meats, eggs, toast, and muffins.

Scorpius rolled his eyes annoyedly and shoved the containers of food into a side satchel. "I didn't think it was a spoof, I just thought that it was a misunderstanding."

"I agreed with Gorpius," said Max, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "I wasn't gonna say nothing, but it did seem farfetched."

"Well now that you know it's not, are you gonna help us unravel this?" Albus asked.

"I am yours to command," Max smiled.

"Pity that we can't tell Rose, though," said Scor now trying to pack beverages. "She would probably be a big help."

"You're not going to tell her, Scor," said Al hurriedly knowing too well that Scorpius is notorious for leaking secrets.

"She will find out," said Max. Al stared at him severally. "I'm not going to tell her," he said quickly. "I wish I could, but I already promised I wouldn't. But come on, this is Rose we're talking about, she's gonna find out eventually, and always sooner than we'll expect. And you know how personally she takes things. If she finds out that we all know something she doesn't and are all intentionally trying to keep it from her, she'll be super offended."

The boys started toward the quidditch pitch heaving breakfast for seven starving players. Al was having difficulty down the hill; it was his week to haul the beverages. They stepped onto the slightly soggy Quidditch pitch and squinted through the sun to see seven players in red and gold robes flying through the air above them. Rocky was bellowing out inaudible orders and directions while Ishmael Stewarts was rephrasing and conveying, catching and passing the quaffle as is usual. Max, Al, and Scorpius began setting up the picnic after arriving in the stands. Rose caught sight of them and waved before having to duck to avoid Isaac Fisher swooping too low and hitting her. Al yelled in warning as she nearly fell and began back at the game as if nothing happened.

"Nah, Al," said Max glancing up from his newspaper. "Just let her get on with it. Injuries are an occupational hazard in Quidditch, especially with Rose."

"Scor, it doesn't have to be perfect," Al rolled his eyes as Scor readjusted the fruit bowl for the fourth time. Scorpius was always precise. He always set out plates, forks, knifes, napkins, and goblets neatly for the team. Al found it unnecessary but learned to let him get on with it. As for the fruit bowl, Al didn't understand.

"The best side faces out," Scorpius muttered seemingly content with the placement.

"It's a bowl, it looks the same from all sides," said Al.

Max looked over his paper and tilted his head. "No, Scor's right, that side looks fuller."

The Gryffindors came streaking to the ground as Max finished his paper. Actually, he had to be finished because Rose had tripped over Watson's shoe and had fallen through the sixth page. This was Al's favorite bits of the weeks, he no longer wished to be in Gryffindor; he no longer felt like he needed to be.

When first sorted, he had kept his mouth shut. He hadn't taken his father's suggestion of requesting Gryffindor from the sorting hat before the start of term last year. He wanted to and many times considered it but what Scorpius had said on the train was ringing through his ears. _"I really just want to go wherever I'll do best. And if I don't try to meddle, the sorting hat will put me there, and wherever I'm put, I'll do well, so I'm not worried."_ Believe it or not, those words changed Al's life. If he never heard them he would have requested Gryffindor.

The first few weeks, months really, as a Slytherin were difficult. He had put a smile on and played satisfied purely for Rose's benefit. She was the only one who knew how much the idea of Slytherin conflicted him. Countless hours they had spent on those enchanted hand mirrors, him poring his heart out to her. He knew that his nightmare had become a reality and he knew Rose wouldn't rest. They were linked somehow, maybe by blood, but if he was noticeably unhappy so was she. He didn't want to ruin her year, he didn't want her feeling like she had to stay with him every moment she could, so, he smiled and over time, it became genuine. Scorpius was the only one to know how conflicted Al was with the circumstance. Though, to his surprise, he wasn't treated unfairly by the other houses, by Gryffindor. He had gotten a lot of crap about it at first from other Slytherins about the matter of him being a Potter, but their fun ran dry as Al's acceptance of his placement thickened.

He was glad to be a Slytherin, because of this, he and his family had changed their opinion of the house. Al himself was keen on being ambitious, cunning, and resourceful. Plus, without Slytherin, he would have missed out on Scorpius as a friend and he was Al's best friend.

Al grinned reminiscently. Around him were friends dressed in red and gold. They barked and boomed, and hit Al on the back, ruffled his hair, and joked around about his flying. They made him feel like a Gryffindor. He lived in the stands with these students and underground with the Slytherins; he was living the best of both worlds.

"Oh God!" Ishmael exclaimed through a mouthful of jam toast. "Classes!"

Al looked at his watch and rushed toward the castle to make it in time for Charms, Scorpius close behind. The two had become much faster and strong enough to run up and down this hill twice a day because of the multiple staircases they hiked up and down to their common room. People wonder why the Slytherins are so large; they'd have to be not to pass out halfway through.

Scor and Al burst through the Charms door late as usual. Professor Flitwick stopped mid-sentence to stare at them disapprovingly. The entire class turned to watch them take a seat. Flitwick began chattering again while Al scrambled to retrieve his book that he had left under his desk before breakfast.

"Potter, a word," Flitwick called as the class filed out. "Malfoy, run along to your next class."

Scorpius made a face at Al before collecting his books and turning to leave. Al slumped over to the teacher's desk. He would have been dreading this no doubt scolding from Flitwick, but he had always been so eager to see how in the world his Professor got down from his mountain of books built for this tiny man to see over his desk. Al watched in awe as Flitwick carefully and gracefully glided from his pedestal to stand in front of Al.

"When will we learn to do that?" Al asked excitedly.

"Do what?" Flitwick asked confusedly.

"Fly! When will we learn to fly?"

Flitwick smiled slightly then quickly concealed it.

"I was not flying, I was floating. And you've already learned how to perform the charm."

"I think I would remember if we-"

"Wingardium Leviosa, Potter," the Professor interrupted. "If strong enough and directed the right way, the charm can levitate its caster. But that's not until much later. I wanted to speak to you about your inappropriate behavior the night of your detention."

Al sighed and grabbed his hair annoyedly as he always did when he was stressed; maybe that was one of the reasons his hair was always so messy. "Professor, I didn't skip out," he tried.

"Oh but you did," Flitwick said standing at Al's waist not looking freighting at all. "You did not finish your task, therefor, you skipped out."

"But Professor," Al pleaded really not wanting another detention.

"You were startled?" he asked raising his bushy white eyebrows. "Potter, we live in a magic castle with magic beast and magic plants. There will be noises from beast all around you, many that can kill you, or eat your face off, petrify you with their cry, or…" he stopped when seeing Al's startled face. "What I'm saying is that I wouldn't have sent you to the lake if I didn't think it safe. I found the abandoned trash tools in the grass and footprints heading in the opposite direction. So, I stopped by your common room and asked the wall if you had entered and when finding that you had, I went to bed."

"Wait," Al interrupted. "How did the wall tell you?"

Flitwick looked confused by this. "It simply stated, the wall is alive after all."

Al suddenly felt sorry for all the times he had punched and kicked the stone wall because he wasn't let in after forgetting his password.

"Unfortunately, Potter, I will have to give you another detention."

Al huffed loudly and sat on Relctory's desk with his head in his hands.

"Don't worry, young man," said Flitwick. "I won't send you to the lake, and you only have to serve half considering you're only making up for the half detention you failed to complete."

Al told Scorpius what had happened in the Charms classroom on the way to Herbology. Scorpius found it completely unfair.

"It's not your fault!" Scor exclaimed.

Al nodded but knew that it was.

"You could have died! The monster was in the grass beside you, ready to pounce! You just made it out alive!"

"That's not at all what happened," said Al skeptically.

"It's called exaggeration, dear friend. It's manipulation's closest companion."

"So it's your closest companion?"

"Gee, Al, I'm flattered that you'd refer to me as manipulation itself, but I think that's a little much," he joked. "What do you have to do this time?"

"Professor Flitwick didn't say," Al shook his head. "But I'm not going back to the lake."

"And you're disappointed?"

"It would have been a perfect opportunity to find the beast," said Al frustrated.

Scorpius shrugged. "It knows where we live Al, it'll probably show itself eventually."

"Do you think Max has blabbed yet?" Al asked now emerging from the castle to find that it was pouring rain.

"You need to stop worrying! You don't trust anyone!" Scorpius had to yell through the downpour.

"That's not true!"

"Yeah it is!"

"I trust you!"

"No you don't!" Scor laughed. "You don't trust anyone. I'm not offended, but come on."

"There they are!" Al had just spotted Max and Rose ahead of them on the grounds with their heads down to the rain. They were easy enough to find; Max's hair wasn't easy to miss.

The two boys hurried over and Scor hit Max on the back which almost knocked him into the mud. Rose was looking displeased though she was the only of the four who had cover from the rain. The wand she was holding was producing the same type of invisible umbrella that Hermione had used in Diagon Alley.

"Wow, Rose, I didn't know you could do that," said Al impressed.

"I can't," she muttered. "This is Max's."

"Then why are you-"

"Because he said he'd feel bad having an umbrella if I didn't," she interrupted. "Because I'm a girl."

"It's Wingardium leviosa, guys!" said Max excitedly. "I just focus it on the rain above my head and it floats upward and off!"

"Why don't you do it with Rose's wand then yours?" asked Scor.

"I can't do it with her wand. Don't give me that look," Max said suddenly to Rose who had a sour expression.

"I feel bad," she said. "You're soaking wet."

"And if I had the shield and you were soaking wet you'd be wondering why I don't be a gentleman and hand it up, won't you?"

She opened her mouth to answer but he cut across. "I mean really, I'm a Gryffindor, I was placed in this house to be chivalrous, and courageous, and daring, and-"

"Humble?" Rose cut in finally smiling.

They turned into greenhouse two to find Professor Supple, a very fat man with earthy clothes and hair that resembled dry grass.

Last year, they had been taught by Professor Neville Longbottom, Al's godfather and friend. However, his wife, Hannah, had become pregnant with his first child, so he took the semester off to be with her. The entire class missed him very much. He was kind, and passionate about his subject, he knew his facts, and was always eager to help anyone who needed advice or had question, and he was always willing to share war stories from Voldemort's rise to power. They missed him most after meeting Professor Supple. Supple acted as though they were a nuisance who he had to babysit for an entire hour. He talked in a drone and made the fascinating and usually exciting subject sound like History of Magic; Supple came close second to Professor Binns.

"Grab a pair of gloves and start scrapping the film from the belly of the Gorg," he droned.

The class looked with disgust at the squashy mas that was bubbling and moving in bowls before them. It looked like an organ.

"We have to touch it?" Max asked with an upturned nose.

"Man up, that's why you have gloves," Supple said rolling his eyes. "And don't let the barbs hit you on the way in. There's a slit on the side that you must squeeze your arm through and careful when rubbing the film out, the plant is delicate and can be scratched easy. If you hurt it, it'll shoot a barb at you. It's not poisonous but'll hurt. Go on now."

"Aren't you gonna tell us what it's used for? What it can do or its befits?" asked Slytherin, Kelpik.

"Madam Pomfrey wants it for something," Supple shrugged. He scratched his scruffy chin thoughtfully. "I know what it's used for but I'm not telling you."

Kelpik scowled. "Isn't it your job to tell us?"

"If you really want me too then I will, but three fourths of you lot will likely ingest it at some point in the hospital wing," he grinned.

The students considered the slimy blob before them and shook their heads weakly.

"Well I still want to know!" said Kelpik angrily crossing his arms.

Supple gestured for him to come close, then whispered something in the boy's ear. The gray haired Slytherin backed away with wide-eyes and made a soft choking noise for a moment before sprinting from the greenhouse. The windows were slightly filmed so Al had to stand on her tiptoes to see his silhouette lean against the glass and vomit. Supple turned back toward the class with a triumphant grin on his face and stared at them for a long moment.

"Will any of you doubt my reasoning again?" he asked sternly.

Most of the students shook their heads quickly and terrified. Al wanted to say yes, but he held his tongue in fear of Professor Supple telling _him_ what the film was used for.

They spent the rest of class using kitchen spoons to scrap the thick yellowish film from the belly of the gorg. It was disgusting.

Al stared at the lake as they exited the greenhouse. He was hoping to see... he didn't know, something, anything. Scorpius was sanitizing his hands with an upturned nose. He had vomited a couple times; Scorpius had always had a weak stomach. Scor bumped into the back of his friend who didn't seem to notice; he had stopped to squint at the lake, but everything was blurry. Scorpius looked from Al to the lake.

"We haven't asked Hagrid yet," he said. "He is the Care of Magical Creatures Professor anyway."

"Ask Hagrid about what?" Rose asked catching up at last, she was fiddling with the zipper on her bookbag and wasn't looking at them.

"About the-" Scorpius started but Al shoved something from his pocket into Scor's mouth which made him choke.

Scorpius, spit it out of his mouth and onto the grass.

Rose looked up curiously.

"Is that my sandwich from yesterday!" Scorpius shrieked in disgust at the clump of dried bread that was his half-eaten sandwich that had been in Al's pocket.

"He just thought you were hungry Scor," said Max clapping him on the back and looking disbelieving toward Albus. "Come on Rosebud, lunch is next!" He took her around the middle and led her away rather swiftly because her eyes were traveling toward the sandwich on the ground.

Al watched them shrink up the hill and let out a sigh of relief. Scorpius was staring angrily with his sleeve over his mouth.

"What the hell, Al?" Scor yelled.

"You were about to blab." Al reasoned.

"No, I wasn't! I was going to make something up before you tried!" He wiped his tongue on his sleeve. "If you wanted me to shut up you could have used your words, or kicked my shin like a civilized human being, my God!"

"I should ask Hagrid, that is a good idea," Al thought, ignoring his friend. "After Lunch?" Al suggested.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Scor replied thickly.

"Cool!" Al exclaimed grabbing Scorpius by the sleeve and dragging him to Hagrid's.

Hagrid was the Hogwarts games keeper, Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and their friend. He lived in a tiny wooden hut where ivy snuck from the grass and over the stone at the edge of the forbidden forest. Al and Scorpius trotted down the hill toward the shack and knocked on the giant wooden door. Al bounced on his heels but Scorpius looked as though the sandwich was still on his mind. Al had a sudden thought. What if Hagrid was angry with him? He had neglected to visit the giant because they saw each other in passing or at evening meals, but would he be offended?

The door swung open and the largest man you'd ever seen was towering above them. He was at least twice the size of the average man and had a thick brown and mostly gray beard which covered nearly all his face but his eyes and a thick mane of bushy hair surrounded his massive head. He wore a fur overcoat and fashioned clunky boots larger than their History of Magic book, which was saying something.

"'s bout' time!" Hagrid exclaimed ruffling both boy's hair with hands that were bigger than their head. "I was begin' ter think yeh lot forgo' abou' me."

"Sorry, Hagrid," said Al. "We just couldn't find time."

"Com' on in," The giant turned and lead them into the tiny hut.

The cabin had only one room with a large quilted bed in one corner and a blazing fireplace the other; an assortment of peculiar items hung from the ceiling and the walls.

"Max an' Rose arn' with yeh?" Hagrid glanced from the window to check if there was anyone else coming as he fiddled with tea. "So I 'spect tha' means yeh need somethin'?"

"We had a question that we though the Care of Magical Creatures teacher could answer," Al replied.

Hagrid set two tea cups in front of the two boys who had just taken a seat at the small round table, and he sat down himself in an overly large wooden chair that looked as though he had crafted it himself.

"How much do you know about the creatures of the lake?" Al said finally.

"He's the games keeper," said Scorpius without looking up from the leaves floating around in his tea. "He knows everything about everywhere at Hogwarts."

Hagrid grinned proudly.

"Hagrid," Al started again. "Can anything that lives in the lake read or write?"

Hagrid scratched at his bushy beard and thought for a moment, then he looked down at Al. "Why do yeh wanna know?" he asked.

Al didn't hesitate this time in telling Hagrid all about the occurrences of detention the other night and about the words in the sand and the writing on the window.

"I'm afraid to say I don' know," said Hagrid at last.

Al's heart dropped.

"The only beasts tha' are intelligen' at all are the Jirbbies, but they write in ancien' and forgotten languages. The giant squid isn' unintelligen', but it can' do wha' yeh mystery beast can. Then there's the merpeople, but they don't read or write and they stay away from humans if they can help it. Have yeh tried lookin' in books?"

"All of them!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Every book that has been written about water beast!"

"Yeh can've looked in every book in two days," Hagrid chuckled.

"He's exaggerating," Al rolled his eyes.

"Maybe yer monster isn' a water dweller. Maybe it's a sand beast."

"Are there any sand beast that can write?" Al asked.

"Er, no."

"Sorry I can' be of more help to yeh, but I don' thin' there is a beast that can do what yeh saying yours did. But le' me suggest somethin', if the thing really does come to yer window every night, then stay awake to watch it, maybe it'll come back tonigh'!"

The two boys stayed a while longer to eat lunch with Hagrid and a bit of fudge before heading back up the ginormous hill, weighed down by their rock cakes.

"Are you going to do it?" Scorpius asked.

"Do what?"

"Stay up all night to see if it'll come back."

"Yeah, I'll do it, but you'll need to help me," Al replied.

"I know; you'll never stay awake long enough."

The rest of the classes seemed rather dull or maybe that was because Al wasn't paying any attention. He was staring out of the window, back at the lake. What he overreacting? Scorpius thought so. Maybe Albs Poddr wasn't his name, maybe it was some crazy coincidence that the words sounded almost exactly like his name, was written right after he had said his own name allowed and was written all over the window where he slept. He was staying up that night; he saw no reason that the beast wouldn't come back.

"Al, Scor, aren't you coming?" Rose asked after dinner as she walked toward the library with her books to her chest and Max walking beside her.

"Er, not this time, guys." Al replied. "I didn't sleep last night and need to get a head start."

"Scor?" Rose looked at Scorpius.

Scorpius walked toward her and whispered something in her ear. Rose looked at Al with a slightly upturned nose.

"I understand," she said quickly. "You go do that, I'll be in the library," and she walked away.

"What'd you tell her?" Al asked.

"That you had a splinter in an embarrassing place and needed help," Scorpius grinned.

"You what!" Albus exclaimed hitting Scor over the head as he laughed.

"They weren't going to buy that story, Al, come on."

They made their way to through the familiar dark corridors and down staircases toward their common room.

" _Ambition,_ " Scorpius said the password so the stone wall before them would slide open and they could walk through and into their common room. It was rather crowded. After dinner was when most of the Slytherins retired to the dungeons; Slytherins weren't a very sociable lot. Al muttered greeting to his Quidditch captain Keith and didn't sit for the game of poker that the rest of the Quidditch team was beckoning him over to play. Al had been really good at the game he had learned beginning of last year, and the gambles looked good this evening, but he didn't want to miss the writing on the window.

He and Scor trotted down their stairwell and through a door with a marble number two on the front. To Albus' relief, nothing was written yet. They had another hour and a half before the other members of their dormitory would start retreating to bed. Al didn't know what time the beast would come to their room if at all. The first time it visited, it had been midnight. The second time, it had been just after studying in the library. If they were lucky, the thing would visit sometime in between.

Scorpius was right about Albus not being able to stay awake. Al was just naturally gifted at falling asleep. The two boys sat in their beds, Al had begun revising for potions and Scorpius was fiddling with a Rubix cude, completing it, rearranging, and completing it again.

"Don't you think you should be studying for a subject you're not good at?" Scorpius suggested.

"Don't you think you should be studying at all?" Al retorted back.

"Don't you think we should be watching the window?" Scorpius replied.

"Don't you think- oh, you're probably right."

"Why aren't the others here yet?" Al asked a few minutes later as he and Scorpius laid on their stomachs, staring at the large window into the murky green that is the lake's water.

"It's game night, remember?" Scorpius replied tiredly. "The guys will be up until dawn at least. Why do you keep your school books open at the window?" Scorpius asked.

"Because I normally sit on the window seal to study," Al replied becoming very drowsy. "I keep the books open because I'm lazy and won't feel like doing it later."

Scorpius had taken out his wand and shot a gust of wind at Al's books which caused the pages to turn abruptly.

"You're a jerk," Al said, standing up and flipping the pages back to where they belonged.

"Hey Al?" Scorpius whispered as Al knelt to read the pages.

"You don't have to whisper, we're the only ones here," Al huffed.

"No we're not…"

Al looked back at Scor who was staring wide-eyed at the window. Albus turned back around to stare into a pair of eyes through the window that were staring back at his. He froze and immediately knew that this was the beast that had written his name, if you could call it a beast.


	10. Left in the Dark

Max sat on the warm Gryffindor sofa in front of the blazing fireplace later in the evening after having just finished studying with his friend, Rose. She was currently sitting on the floor by his feet very bravely letting him French braid her red curly hair.

"Do you think Al and Scor are acting weird?"

"Yep," he muttered, trying to focus.

"What do you think it is?" she asked.

"I don't think it's anything," he replied. He didn't think because he knew what it was.

"I don't know Max," she said thoughtfully. "I just have the feeling that Al's hiding something from me, but that can't be true because Al tells me everything."

Max felt a guilty tug at his stomach. The amount of trust Rose put in people was incredible to him, a boy who doesn't trust anyone. If we're being honest, not even Rose.

"He's growing up, Rosie," Max decided to say while trying to get his hand untangled from her hair. "There will be things you'll feel like he's hiding and there probably are."

"I don't like it," she muttered.

"I told you," Max smirked. "You're-"

"I'm not a control freak!" she interrupted angrily.

"I was going to say you were worried about him," Max raised his eyebrows.

"Oh…"

He tied off the end of her braid and patted her on the shoulder.

"All done."

Rose brushed the braid with her hand and seemed impressed.

"When did you learn to braid like that?" she asked.

"Micah taught me," Max replied taking his Astronomy homework and copying down the long since remembered names of stars and moons. Micah was Max's extremely crafty roommate.

Rose sat with her knees to her chest staring into the fire. Max looked over his paper at her and sighed.

"Leave them be," he said. "If they want to keep secrets then let them."

Rose didn't respond.

"What alloy is used when self-replicating heated Progs?" Max asked, though, already knowing the answer.

Rose looked up excitedly. "Manipulic," she replied. "Do you need help?"

"I could use another brain, yeah," said Max scooching over to make room on the couch for her. She hopped on the sofa beside him and started shuffling through his books, already with one of his quills in her mouth as she always absentmindedly did.

Max didn't actually need help; he was a clever boy with a wide attention span and could manage on his own. He knew, however, that she needed to be distracted. It was dangerous when Rose fell into thought or when she shut up. She never stopped talking usually. So, when she was silent for a long period of time, she was thinking about things that ought not to be pondered on, Belladonna Drury, for example.

He knew that everything that had happened last year had been his fault, despite Rose's constant reassurance that it wasn't. He had been stupid and headstrong. Rose had been a good friend and, because of him, was swept along to meet his mother… _his mother_. The word made him sick, the; word had no meaning. _Mother_? It typically comes with a sense of comfort for the children who hadn't been abused and used. For Max, though, he had been the unfortunate son of a lunatic. The word _mother_ sparked fear and anger. He had a brother, his name was Will. Will was smart, he was energetic, he was level-headed and protective. Max had been a twin and had been six when it happened. Protective Will, always getting in fights to defend Max. The other boys in school would tease him for being a metamorphmagus. Max couldn't yet control his hair which was often changing colors. The other children would call him 'Magus' which meant 'sorcerer' to any other wizard, but when said to a metamorphmagus, it was an insult equivalent to being called mudblood. It meant animal, not human, unintelligent, unsophisticated, low-life.

"You misspelled this."

Max was thrown from his thoughts as Rose shoved his paper under his nose. He considered her pretty, freckly face. Worry showed apparent in her chocolate brown eyes. He knew she was trying to break his thoughts too. Something had changed between them since last year. Their relationship was less fun and more mature. Max agreed that this was his fault too. He had kept secrets last year about his past, about where he came from and about Will. He was treated like the cool and confidant individual that he pretended to be. But there were no hiding secrets from Rose, at least not for long. She pressed him, and he divulged. Since that day, he was no longer treated as _Max_ , but to his friends, he was the poor chap whose mother kidnapped his brother and abused him, using him as a tool. He regretted that day.

"It's about time, Max," said Rose peering down at her watch.

"For what?" he asked, blinking out of thought again.

"Astronomy," she replied obviously.

His face split into a grin. He had nearly forgotten. Every other night he would take his three friends to the roof to tutor them in Astronomy, being the only decent stargazer among the four. Rose split for her dormitory to fetch her broomstick. Max stared at the orange flames of the fire for a moment. They were mesmerizing, but not in a warm welcoming way. Suddenly, they flickered green and shot out of the fireplace toward him; Rose's piercing scream of pain was deafening and seemed to be coming from within the flame. Max jumped so hard that he knocked over his ink bottle which spilled over his potions book. With a ' _whoosh_ ' sound the flames subsided back to where they belonged and flickered a pleasant orange once again. Max held his chest gasping. Was that in his head? Nobody else in the common room seemed to have noticed anything except for Hugo who crawled over from the floor, picked up the tipped ink bottle and slipped a muggle ink pen into Max's clenched fist.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked having just emerged from the boy's staircase with his telescope under her arm and looking confusedly at him.

"You know I'm not," he replied, not having to lie, she knew it was true.

Rose put on a fixed smile. "We'll be fine," she said grabbing his tie and pulling him up from the couch. Max didn't think she had meant to say _we'll_.

They mounted the broom together and jumped from the tower window. Hugo, Calvert, and Micah didn't even glance over; they had been all to use to them sneaking out now that Max and Rose didn't really even have to _sneak_.

Astronomy lessons on the roof were very dangerous. Not just because they could get caught, but because there was only one area on the sloping castle roof that was flat, and that was the divide between two pointed towers; they pretty much studied in a gutter. Max kicked the debris from the roof along with the rats that had somehow made it up. Rose leaned casually against the sloping tiled roof behind her as Max unfolded and set up his telescope. She had tried to help at one point but never could get it right and nearly always snapped something off. Luckily, Max was handy and could always fix what she had broken.

"They're late," said Rose considering her watch and peering over at the lake where she knew their dormitory was located beneath.

Max was staring at the lake too but was not looking for his friends.

"We'll warm up while we wait," said Max. "Find me, Titan." He spun the lens toward Rose who peered through intently.

Max knew that she hated Astronomy and hardly ever found what she was searching for, mostly because she was peering at the wrong side of the universe. He appreciated her effort though. Rose pushed her bangs from her face irritably and rubbed at the lens with her sleeve. Max stared at her for a moment. He didn't understand why she was his friend, especially after all he had put her through. He almost got her killed, yet, she was trying to pretend as though that had never happened. He had tried to be a bit more distant from her at first, for her befit of course. She hadn't taken kindly to that and had given him a talking to in the middle of the common room at rush hour. He didn't understand. Max stared then turned away from Rose to peer down into the lake. He was sure that Scorpius and Al were down there and had a feeling that they wouldn't be joining them for Astronomy.

Max woke the next morning on the common room couch. Hugo had left his muggle club welcoming cupcakes on the table and Rose and Max had stayed up to eat them. As usual, he sat up with an aching back and a stiff neck. He groaned when hoisting his book bag onto his shoulder but Rose happily got up and carried hers. She was never soar, mostly because she used his shoulder, lap, stomach, or chest as a pillow and was always shifting to be comfortable during the night waking him every time. He was pleased to find that his braid had lasted the night, allowing them to head straight from the common room toward breakfast rather than him having to wait for her to wrestle with the knots.

Max couldn't decide whether he was surprised or not to find the absence of Scorpius and Al at the Gryffindor or Slytherin table. Rose was surprised and became overcome with worry.

"I swear, I'm going down there!" she barked, standing up from the table and taking two strides toward the pass for the dungeons.

Max reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Leave them be, Rosie," he pleaded on his other two friends' behalf.

She shot a warning look at him.

"They don't show up for Astronomy without telling us, and then they don't even come down for breakfast? Al loves food!"

Max raised his eyebrows at her. Her warning look faded, and she sighed.

"Look," Max started. "They are free boys who can do as they please. You may not like it, but I know you don't want to be that overly protective cousin who is always in their business, nagging them to no end, and spoiling their fun. If you take the route you're trying, you're going to end up being just that."

She scowled, not at Max, but seemingly at herself. Reluctantly, she sat back at the breakfast table without a word.

"Awe, Madame," James spoke up in a French accent so bad that Dominique turned her nose up to him. "Our little boy iz growing up."

Max slid a bowl of cherries across the table toward her knowing that they were her favorite. She didn't eat a bite. The worst thing about being Rose's friend is that when she was in a mad mood, she had to be sure that you were too.

Classes that day were mildly interesting. The same old things with a couple new tips. The same smelly potions with even more disgusting ingredients that needed to be dissected in addition to chopped, stirred, and later tried. Transfiguration was terrible and came with a couple more injuries. He and Rose were sent to the hospital wing because Max had somehow transfigured his own arm into a tentacle and Rose had been knocked out of her chair as it whipped around. They both laid in the hospital beds now. Max glanced over at Rose asleep on the cot beside him. Her face showed a painful red welt; he felt horrible. Max took a deep breath and stared at the ceiling above him. Something caught ears and broke his attention from the piece of lent shaped like a bee hovering above him. He heard footsteps drawing nearer and the familiar voices of Al and Scorpius were growing louder. Max was sure that they had heard about Rose and him being in the hospital wing and were coming to visit as they usually did in the many times Max ended up here.

He stood up from bed, dragging his half-shrunk tentacle arm behind him. He had to meet his friends outside to tell them to keep their voices down. Al had a habit of bursting into any room booming and shouting, and Max knew that Rose wouldn't be pleased to be woken up that way. He had a fight with his tentacle arm which was trying to grab the doorknob. He supposed that this small delay was a good thing. Otherwise, he would have missed the not so private conversation that took place just outside the hospital doors.

"Are we telling him?" Max heard Scorpius whisper.

"No," Al replied.

"But he already knows something's up. He hasn't told Rose anything yet, and your lack of lying experience is sure to give the whole thing away anyway. Are we keeping Max in the dark know too?" Scorpius muttered

"We have to," Al replied.

"I don't like it," said Scor thoughtfully.

"I don't like it either," said Al. "But something like this? This big? There's no way he'll keep it a secret; he and Rose are too close of friends; he'll feel too conflicted."

Max furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and curiosity.

"Why hide it from Rose now?" Scor asked. "She's bound to find out anyway. One lie will lead to more until we've dug ourselves into a whole too deep to climb from. Rose will be at the top, knowing everything and unwilling to help us up!"

"No metaphors please," Al said in a tone that was sure to have been followed by the rolling of his green eyes. "You remember her threats about tattle tailing to the teachers about Max's ransom last year?" Max scowled for a moment. He remembered how annoying it had been when trying to keep a secret. "She's bound to tell the teachers, you know, _for our own good,_ " Al mocked.

"I never really pinned her as a tattle tale," said Scor. "She can't be if she's friends with us."

"You didn't grow up with her."

Max pressed his ear to the door and listened harder as a silence followed Al's words.

"It feels wrong," Scorpius said.

"It is wrong," Albus agreed, half laughing. "There is so many things about this that it wrong. Kemp, if Professor Kemp found out even, we'd be in for it. We can't tell anyone. Not Neville, Professor Dalbert, Rose, or Max."

"But we're not doing anything wrong," Scorpius argued.

Max could almost hear the look Al was giving his friend.

"If we go through with this, then we will be. Expulsion, possibly Azkaban."

"We're not going to be sent to prison for this," Scor said.

"We'd be charged for kidnap and experimentation," Al whispered still more, and Max was having difficulty understanding.

"But it's the one who-" Scorpius barked in fear, but Al interrupted.

"She's not an 'it'!" he barked back. "And it won't matter, they can't very well lock her up in Azkaban, can they?"

"We're mad, aren't we?" Scorpius sighed.

"We always were. Come on."

Max knew this was his cue to run away. He tried to sprint in his socks and slid across the smooth floor toward his bed. With one fluid motion, he was in his bed and under the covers again.

Al and Scorpius waltzed in, and if he hadn't just heard their conversation, you would never be able to tell that they were hiding anything.

Max couldn't decide how to respond. Should he admit that he had heard everything and force them, to tell the truth? Or should he wait until the perfect moment to give them a burn? Or should he let them get on with whatever they were hiding and take a bit of his own advice to Rose about letting them grow up and be free?

"Oh God," Scorpius exclaimed, covering his mouth and pointing at Max's arm as though he didn't realize there was anything peculiar about it.

"It's healing," Max sighed, still not looking away from the boys.

He decided to probe. "So, you weren't at Astronomy last night," he said.

"Yeah," Scorpius shrugged convincingly. "Filtch decided to camp out in the dungeon corridor; we couldn't sneak out."

Max nodded slowly. "And breakfast?"

"Al wasn't feeling well, so I took an excuse and we both slept in," Scor assured him.

If he didn't know any better, he would have believed Scorpius.

He decided to press. "Did you find anything last night?" he whispered. "About the beast?"

Max noticed Al open his mouth to reply, but Scorpius _discreetly_ tugged on Al's robes to tell him to shut up. Unfortunately for them, Max was watching for something like that.

"No," Scor said. "It didn't come back last night."

"Do you think it ever will?" Max asked.

Al was starting to have difficulty hiding the small beads of sweat that appeared when he was nervous. Max glared and opened his mouth to confess that he had heard it all. Until his purple eyes met Scorpius' steel gray ones. They stared pleadingly back at him, and Max felt a twinge of guilt. This boy had been the only of his friends who had tried to allow Max's secrets to remain as such. The only one who had pressed his friends to give Max his privacy. This beast was half Scorpius' secret, and for now, at least, Max decided to repay the kindness and to shut up about it.

"It's probably best not to chat about it when you-know-who is in the room," Al said gesturing toward Rose.

"I wouldn't call her that," Scorpius advised with raised eyebrows.

"You know what I mean."

Rose woke, and they spent the time it took to shrink the rest of Max's arm to its original size to eat dinner and get caught up on homework. She had a go at them too. Rose questioned their absence at breakfast and Astronomy but in a way that was casual and not over concerned. The boys spit out the same rehearsed lie more confidently, and Max actually felt envy for their ability to lie whenever they pleased.

Max was chewing on his lower lip as he tried to remember what cauldron base is best used when brewing drafts. He was waiting on Al to join him and Rose so he could ask, but Al and Scorpius had been off collecting books for much longer than they normally spent.

"Hey, Al?" Max called as Albus passed. Al jumped so violently with an armful of books that one toppled from the stack in his hands and hit him square in the nose.

"Yes? What?" Al said in a distracted sort of cheery tone, paying no attention to the welt swelling over the bridge of his nose.

"God! Are you okay?" Max asked standing up to take the books from Al's arms.

He looked down at the stack and was perplexed by the assortment Al had chosen. It was a variety of books on the darker sides of transfiguration, and A, B, C, 1, 2, 3 young children's books.

"Relearning English?" Max asked sarcastically.

"Ha!" Al fake laughed, swiping the stack back. "No." He turned abruptly and walked away again.

"Boys?" Rose called from the table, and Max rolled his eyes as he noticed his favorite quill's end feathers frayed from where they had been in her mouth. "Where are you going?"

Scorpius and Al turned around but continued to backward from the library with their books in arm.

"Al's not feeling well again," said Scorpius. "We're studying in our dorm tonight."

Rose stood up from her chair slowly and started toward them with an air of suspicion.

"Rather large load of books for a boy whose taken ill," she said.

Max watched Scorpius look to the stack in Al's arms that was almost twice the size of his own. He seemed to wilt slightly with dread but covered it up with an apologetic smile.

"How rude of me," he said and made a face at Al who regrettably loaded his stack into his friend's arms.

Rose pressed closer and placed the backside of her delicate hands onto Al's forehead. "Not very warm," she said with raised eyebrows.

"Your hands are just cold," Scorpius' voice was heard from behind the mountain of books he was slowly collapsing under.

Al looked from Scor to Rose and let out an obviously fake couch.

"Gee Al, you better get some medicine for that couch," said Scorpius who seemed humored about how unconvincing it was. "Come on." And they both hurried from the library.

Rose watched them leave, then turned abruptly toward Max looking triumphant. "And you still think they're not up to something?"

"I've known they're up to something, I just don't think we should meddle," he responded, kicking himself for not asking Al about the cauldron question.

"They had baby learning books," she said thoughtfully, sitting back down and placing Max's quill back in her mouth.

"They're bright boys," Max shrugged. "They're probably growing a gelatinous being and teaching it to do their homework."

Rose stopped talking, but her mind was far from the matter. Max smiled to himself. If you were going to be friends with this girl, you'd better not have anything to hide. She was very pushy, and nosy, and intervening, but he loved her anyway.


	11. Alcor vs Scorbus

Rose burst from her dormitory after depositing her school bag on her bed. She had been on a secret quest all day and had thought to have failed until sorting her books just two minutes ago. Jumping with triumph, she nearly knocked into Tyler Garner on the stairs. He shouted something probably snide or sarcastic as she continued into the common room, but she didn't hear what it was. Max's was sitting on the couch shuffling cards and waiting for her. She jumped over the sofa to land next to him. The cards flew from his hands to scatter across the floor.

"Guess what!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"You're not going to help me pick up these cards?" he guessed, leaning down to retrieve them.

"I've just found a huge lead in Alcor's secret!" she bypassed his question.

"Alcor?"

"Albus + Scorpius," she explained. "Albus and Scorpius takes way too long to say."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to call them Scorbus?" Max asked.

"Uh, no. Scor and bus make actual words, it doesn't work like that," Rose replied.

"But Alcor is an actual name," Max said.

"Who has a name like Alcor?" Rose crossed her arms.

"Your version just sounds a little forced, you know, it doesn't roll off the tongue."

"And you're saying yours Scorbus does?"

"I think we're off topic," Max reasoned.

"You changed it… Anyway, I switched Al's and my transfiguration books!" she exclaimed, holding out Al's worn school book.

Max looked up at her disappointedly.

"I didn't mean to," she reasoned. "but I'm sure glad I did! Look!"

She pulled from the pages of _A Slightly Less Beginners Guide to Transfiguration_ by _Emeric Switch_ a stack on concealed pages. She flipped through to find the one she had been considering in her dorm.

"What does this look like to you?" she asked happily, shoving a potions essay with a print traced over the pages under his nose.

She thought she saw something shift in Max's eyes for a moment, but it was gone when he looked back up at her.

"It looks like a duck print," he replied.

"But it's not!" she jumped up. "Why would Al have a tracing of a duck print over Scorpius' essay? I know it's Al's handwriting; he always drew lightly. But look, look, look!" She shuffled through the pages and pulled a small stack of notecards and thrust them into Max's hands causing him to drop the playing cards that he had been gathering.

He looked at the assortment in his hands then looked at her with pity.

"Don't give me that look!" she snapped. "It's something I know it! See? These are all notes on transfiguration and potions and-"

"Rosie?" Max interrupted her, taking her by the hands like she was ill. "We are at school, there will be notes on our subjects."

Rose scowled. "Then how to do explain Sugamina?"

"What?"

"Sugamina," she repeated, taking the last note from Max's hands to jab at the words scribbled on the parchment. "It's all over their notes."

Max stared at the card for a moment then seemed to smile slightly. He handed the notes back to her.

"Want some advise?" he asked.

"Don't tell me to leave it alone again," she hurried. "Because you know I'm not going to."

"I was going to tell you to stop overthinking," he said.

"I'm not making something out of nothing," she argued.

"I never said that," he replied with a smirk that only appeared on his face when he knew something she didn't. "I was going to advise you not to over think. Don't over think."

Rose found this advise odd, but even more, she found Max's demeanor to be peculiar as well, as if he knew something she didn't. But Max would tell her if he knew something about Alcor's secret, surely, especially since he knew how much she wanted to know.

"Scorbus wants to study in the gardens today," Max said tucking his want into his robe pocket. "Al's probably freaking out about that book. You can give it back."

"I'm not giving it back! And it's Alcor," she said crossly.

Max snatched it from her unguarded grip and held it above her head pompously as she jumped.

"I hate keep-away!" she growled irritably as she swatted at the book above her head.

"He needs his book," said Max. "We're going to the gardens to give it to him. Don't be a thief."

"I'm not a thief," he hissed, climbing onto the couch to reach.

"You are if you steal the book."

She stopped reaching for it and scowled at him. Max picked her up from the sofa and placed her on the floor before pressing Al's transfiguration book close to his chest.

"Come on," he said. "We can see Yoman."

Rose had nearly forgotten about Yoman. He was one of the head house elves usually in the kitchen. He had helped them a bit last year, also almost sending Max into an enchanted sleep by means of his boobytrap, but it was Max's own fault for walking into it.

They left the common room to find the halls of Hogwarts rather crowded with students as it always was at this time of day. All the students were celebrating their freedom from classes for the day and pretending that they didn't have any tomorrow. This was Rose's third favorite time of day. Her second was classes and first was studying at night with Max. At this time, through these hallways, were where you could find the most peculiar happenings; it was everything you would expect from a wizarding school.

Rose and Max backed quickly between a suit of armor as Fred, Roxanne, Ortho, Fritz, Cian and James ran pass in terror. Ortho and Fred were cursing, Fritz laughing, Cian enraged, and James wondering how in the world he had gotten himself into this. Rose and Max glanced at each other before daring to peek pass the armor. Thirty flamingos were chasing the flock, hollering and breathing fire. After the last pink feather floated to the ground, Rose and Max began to laugh before continuing to the kitchens.

"Why aren't we using the secret entrance on the grounds?" Rose asked as they skipped down the stone steps.

"Scor said Danielle is camped out in front of it," Max replied.

He stopped walking suddenly and put a hand in front of Rose to indicate that she do the same. Max pressed a finger to his lips and listened. Now that their feet weren't slapping against the steps, she could hear faint pounding and grunts. Max slipped away from their staircase and took the passage to the left. As they grew closer, the noise grew louder until it sounded to be right next to them. Max reached out and tore away a tapestry that concealed a tunnel. Behind the tapestry was a scene that made Rose lunge like a mother tiger. Three large Slytherin boys had Hugo and Obadiah pinned to the stone wall. Obadiah was crumpled into a heap on the floor and one boy had Hugo by the shirt who had the Slytherin by the hair. The fight froze when they saw the two walk in. Max had to grab Rose by the arms to keep her from tackling the boys twice as large as she was. Rose recognized the boy holding Hugo as Relctory, a Slytherin a year older than his victim and probably the combined weight of everyone in the passage. With one look at Max who glared at them with his wand in the hand that he wasn't fighting against Rose with, the Slytherins slithered pass and ran in fear of the kid who was known to be an aggressive dark wizard who dry drowns Slytherins before breakfast. Hugo fell to the floor as the others fled. Max let go of Rose who ran to the young Gryffindor's aid and hestared after the Slytherins.

"Excuse me," Max growled in a terrifying way as he followed the brutes.

"Oh my God, Hugo!" Rose exclaimed, fussing over her little brother. "What happened?"

Hugo was trying to swat her hands away and they combed his hair down. "I was fine," he grunted. "I had him by the hair."

Obadiah sat back up, he had a black eye and swollen lip but seemed to have been playing possum.

"They cornered us," he said.

"Shut up, Obadiah!" Hugo ordered.

"Because we like muggles," the boy finished.

Hugo glared at the ground.

"Said that we were traitors for supporting the filth that is muggle kind," Obadiah finished.

"I think you've covered it!" said Hugo quickly.

"Drug us behind the tapestry and beat up to a pulp," he continued.

"That's enough!" Hugo shouted, turning around.

Rose looked around and found his number 2 pencil that was always behind his ear, cracked and on the floor in shards.

"Oh Hugo," he pouted. "This was your favorite,"

"It's okay," Hugo muttered.

"No, no, I can fix it!" she assured him.

"Rose…"

"I don't know if reparo would work. Maybe I can put the pieces together."

"Rosie!" Hugo stopped her, taking the pieces from her hand. "They cost less than a knut; I have fifty more in my dorm, it's okay."

Max came back into view. His red and gold tie was askew and the shoulder of his robe was torn, not to mention he had a purple welt on his cheek and his wavy curls were now frizzy.

"Got one!" he said triumphantly.

"Which one?" Rose demanded, standing up angrily.

Max held out his arms and did a spin so to show her his tattered clothing.

"Which one do you think?" he said.

"What'd you do to him?" asked Obadiah eagerly.

"I don't know," said Max thoughtfully. "but Relctory now has tusks, toothbrush hair, and an elephant trunk as an ear, so…"

"Where are you going?" Rose asked as Hugo stood up and started off.

"I'm going to beat the other two to a pulp," he said obviously.

"I don't think you need to," Max called after him. "Your girlfriends were chasing them into the owlery last I saw!"

Hugo and Obadiah looked at each other wide eyed and ran up the stairs.

Rose was heaving with anger.

"Calm down," said Max.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she shouted. "They dare hurt by brother? I swear, they're never going to see the end of this! I'm gonna-"

"It's not your fight," Max interrupted.

"He's my brother! It's my responsibility to-"

"To what? Defend him?" Max stopped her again. "He can take care of himself."

"He's only eleven!"

"And so were you last year," he laughed. "How would you feel if James thought it was his responsibility to defend you?"

"I don't need James! I can take care of myself!"

Max raised his eyebrows as he always did whenever he reached the point he was trying to get at. She understood and sighed angrily, knowing it's no use to argue further.

"Where do you think this tunnel goes?" Max asked, staring town the passage concealed behind the tapestry.

Rose grinned suddenly, met with an adventure.

"Why don't we find out?"

"Er, maybe later, Scorbus is waiting for us," he replied, pushing her onward toward the kitchens.

He had been less eager to explore passageways ever since they had taken one that led to Professor Donima's bedroom and had discovered too much, like how Donima had a tattoo of a unicorn on her back.

They made their way to the giant painting of a bowl of fruit located on the first landing below ground. Max reached out and tickled the pare which giggle and squirmed before turning to doorknob that they used to swing the painting open. They crawled into the kitchens to find hundreds of waist tall, big-eared, large-nosed elves who all smiled at them as they walked in. Yoman was easy to find, he was one of twelve elves that had a red string tied to their sleeve and was holding a clipboard.

"Yoman!" Rose squealed as they caught sight of him,

Yoman turned around and beamed back at them. Rose knelt and gave the elf a hug.

"I is pleased to be seeing you after so long!" squeaked the elf in his high pitched voice. "But I is having a lot of work to be doing and masters Malfoy and Potter are becoming impatient waiting for you."

"They can occupy themselves," Rose assured him.

"Oh, yes miss, they have been," squeaked Yoman. "They is occupying themselves with much talk, talk that is frightening us house elves."

"What kind of talk?" Rose asked, interested and eager.

"They is talking about dangerous things. They is talking about beasts and m-"

Max made a quick gesture over his lips indicating Yoman to zip-it. Yoman looked confused and stopped mid-sentence, carrying the last word like a broken radio.

"Mmmmmmmmm-ustered," he finished and Max knew that mustered wasn't the word that was about to escape his lips. "Dangerous mustered that had gone bad and can make you sick," he improvised.

Rose stared at him, perplexed.

"Well…" she thought. "What about a beast? You said beast."

"No, no, Miss," said Yoman who was staring up at Max who egged him on encouragingly. "I said beef, beef and mustered."

Max let out a forced chuckle.

"In the kitchen so long, all he can thing about is food, nice seeing you Yoman!" and he steered Rose from the kitchens and up a wooden staircase, leaving her looking extremely confused.

"Why would Al and Scorpius be talking about bad beef and mustered?" she asked as they walked through the pumpkin juicery.

"Maybe they ate some," Max suggested.

They found the two boys talking in the shade of an oak tree in the middle of a field in the summer season. Alcor stood up and hurried over when seeing their friends.

"It took you long enough," said Al angrily.

"We got held up," said Max. "But I brought your-" he stopped and felt around his robe and pockets. "Uh…" he let out a nervous laugh. "Well I _had_ your book but, uh, I must've dropped it."

Al's hands slowly rose to his hair which he always gripped when he was stressed or scared.

Rose looked at Al who seemed to be about to tell Max off and felt bad. "No, you didn't," Rose sighed, feeling conflicted. She pulled the transfiguration book from her robe and held it out so Al could snatch it up.

Max looked at her, seemingly impressed.

She had taken it from the floor when Max ran off after Relctory, and had planned on keeping it until she could riddle out the clues. But then she thought about Al and how horrible it would be for her to break his trust. She had worked so hard to build it up and trust was something too precious to be broken over an intangible theory about a duck print and the work Sugamina.

They spent the rest of the day working on practical wand work using the space that the field gave them to cast spells. Scorpius and Albus worked on transfiguration in the grass while Rose and Max dueled by the stream. Rose was better at Defense Against the Dark Arts than Max was. He was swift and quick with is spells that were admittedly weak. Rose was more coordinated therefor her spells had accuracy and strength. They had pleaded for Al and Scorpius to join them, but they refused. Al had gotten much better in transfiguration since just last week, it used to be his worst subject, but now he was turning acorns into peppermints and back again. Sure, the peppermints tasted terrible, but he was getting there.

The days were growing closer to October, sending a breeze through the air though the September sun was still shining through. However, Rose was warm and toasty laying in the summer season of the enchanted gardens. The soft grass tickled her nose as she closed her eyes. The boys were still talking about school and Halloween, the local magic town called Hogsmeade and debating whether they were going to sneak in this year. After a little while, the chattering stopped and she peeked one eye open to see her friends walking away from where she was laying. Were they about to leave her there. She watched as they stopped a few meters from where she was and she closed her eyes again when they turned to look at her. Rose counted to five before she dared open them again. Scorpius and Albus were talking to Max wo listened intently and continued to peak glances at Rose further in the field but the grass hid her face from view. Max seemed to be getting angry and continued to gesture toward where she was, whether to say that they shouldn't be talking in front of her or to include her, she didn't know. But one thing was for certain, Max now knew the secret and she was overjoyed, he would tell her in a heartbeat.


	12. Rose Breaks Ribs

Apparently, Rose really did fall asleep in the summer grass because she was shaken awake by Max. She sat up to find that the sky was auburn and the house elves were shooing them out.

"Almost light out!" they squeaked. "You is to be in bed!"

He picked her up by the arms and helped direct her from the gardens. She always took at least five minutes after waking up before she could move on her own.

"Where's Alcor?" she asked, noticing their absence.

"They headed back an hour ago," he replied.

"Why didn't you leave?"

He shrugged. "I was skipping stones, and you were still asleep."

She suddenly remembered something that gave her a burst of energy.

"Did you learn anything about Alcor's secret?" she asked, but already knowing the answer.

There was a silence "No," he replied with a shakiness to his voice.

Suddenly, she heard him grunt and double over. With terror, she knelt to find that he was coughing up blood.

"Oh my God!" Rose exclaimed, not knowing how she could help.

"I'm fine!" he spat.

"No, you're not!" she said, deciding that she would rip his tie off allowing him room to breathe.

"No, really," he grunted painfully. "This isn't new. You go on to the- *cough* castle."

"Are you nuts?" she asked angrily. He was now sputtering.

"I'll have Yoman make me tea," he gagged. "It's getting late. Go!"

She scowled and stood up.

"Max, I really don't think-" she started but he glared up at her with red eyes, and she fell silent. "Fine." She knew it would be no use in arguing further, not when his eyes were that color.

She turned and continued through a door hidden from the outside by ivy. With one more glance at Max who seemed to be recovering on the ground, she closed the door behind her. It was rather chilly outside; she hadn't realized. She thought about what had just happened. She had only seen him do something similar once before, in the common room after hours when he had lied to Calvert in the previous year. She knew that it was greatly painful when he lied due to his mother's dark spell to keep him from falling into this habit. But why would he have lied to her?

 _"_ _Did you learn anything about Alcor's secret?"_

 _"_ _No."_

He did, he knew something and had knowingly endured immense pain to keep her from finding anything out. She was confused and angry, curious, and excited, scared, but mostly enraged.

Trust. Why? What had she done to prevent her friends from trusting her? She thought carefully. Had she spoiled any surprises of theirs or accidentally tattle told. She had tried to tell about Max's ransom last year, but Al and Scor had been on that one. Well, there was that one year where she took Albus and Hugo under the porch and taught them how to properly peek at presents and rewrap them. But she found that event to be innocent fun and not a good reason to be excluded.

Her curiosity was turning to anger. They were a team, a package deal, one body. They had told each other secrets and trusted one another to keep them. Why would they leave her out? She could help, she was a Gryffindor after all and quite keen on most adventures and could be rather reckless. Scorpius, he seemed like a straight forward guy and had always been straight with her. She found the fact that Al was hiding something to be hurtful but not unlikely, he was growing up and becoming a bit more like James. But Scorpius wasn't one keen on hiding anything, though he could quite well, he never had before. But above all, Max, why Max? She had thought and been quite pleased that the whole keeping secrets deal from last year had been resolved adequately. He had told her his darkest secrets and most shameful aspect of his past and earlier childhood. No more secrets, that what he had said, she had made him pinkie swear. He wouldn't have… yet he did… She had thought… She had thought… She had thought wrong.

She stepped into her common room a few long minutes later. Her Quidditch team was lounging on the couches and grinned when she walked in.

"Hey, Weasley!" Ishmael called. "Early morning practice. 5: 00 am!"

Rose nodded silently.

"Hold up," said Isaac Fisher, sitting up from having been hanging upside down over the couch as Max always did. "You're angry?"

She sat over the arm of the sofa with the guys from her team and didn't respond.

"What's up?" Isaac asked, leaning forward and resting on his elbows to listen.

Rose thought for a moment about how to phrase her problem without making it too personal. She made up her mind and opened her mouth, but Isaac interrupted her.

"Wait, this isn't anything feminine, is it?" She raised her eyebrows at him. "Okay good," he said. "Continue."

"I'm one to trust, you know that. But, how come even though I've done nothing dishonest toward them, they still feel as though they must keep things from me? To keep secrets?"

Isaac stared blankly for a moment, not knowing how to respond.

Rose sighed. "I could just do with a little honesty."

"Honesty?" said Isaac. "Uh, sure. I have a bald spot on my head; that's why I always comb my hair to the right. Enoc?"

"Uh," Enoc thought. "I have a wart on my hand from the beaters bat; you're gonna get 'em too."

"I have Turophobia," said Rocky. "Don't judge! I had a traumatizing incident."

"James!" Isaac called over to James who was sorting through a pile of leaves in front of the fireplace with Tyler. "Honesty!"

"I think pandas are fat," said James matter a factly with a smug look at Tyler.

"Well I think giraffes are the oddest-looking animals in existence," Tyler joined in with a look at James who scowled.

The team looked over at Watson Trout who hadn't divulged a secret yet.

He sighed obligated. "It's true," he muttered, turning red slightly.

The guys roared and laughed as they ruffled his messy blonde hair and hit him on the back.

Isaac turned toward Rose who was watching amusedly. "We knew he liked Nolly Madison!" he laughed triumphantly.

"Thank guys," said Rose scooting off the arm of the couch and heading toward her dorm, not being tired but not feeling better either.

She was going to skip late night studying with Max tonight. She hoped that he wasn't going to stay up and wait for her, but then again… Rose sat on her bed and noticed something silky at her hands. She hadn't realized that she was still holding Max's red and gold tie. She stared at it for a moment, then glared before throwing it at the wall. Rose felt slightly better, then hurried across the room to pick it back up. She grabbed her plaid button-up nightclothes and dressed.

She heard scratching and found Cromwell, one of her roommate's barn owl, scrapping its claw on her school books. Most would become angry to see an owl tearing your books apart, but Rose had gotten to know this bird well enough to understand that it was reminding her to do her homework.

"Not tonight, Cromwell," she whispered, stroking its feathers. "Have you ever felt betrayed?" she asked it. The bird hooted merrily. "I suppose not. I have these friends, right? You've met them. And I thought that we were close and trusted each other, but apparently, it's a three-man deal, no room for girls. Do you think that's what it is? Because I'm a girl, they don't want me involved…? No, that's not it…" she thought as the owl stared at her with its big brown eyes.

Rose lied down in her bed and clenched the red and gold tie in her fist. She had only been angry at Max once before, like, actually angry. She debated whether she should be or not. Perhaps he was holding true to his word, to a promise, to his friends, well, two of them. To her, though, that didn't justify. She felt rage sear through her, but at herself for being so nosy and irksome, then at Max for keeping a secret, then at herself again for being angry at Max for keeping a secret. Talk about confliction.

 _Why should he not be allowed privacy?_

 _It's not just him, Alcor's involved too._

 _But what if they have a good reason for keeping me out of the loop? They're clever enough boys._

 _Maybe they're too clever, don't need your help anymore._

 _Don't be ridiculous; they've never needed my help. I was just 'there' before._

 _But you were the 'smart' one. What if Scorpius or Al is now the smart ones? Where does that put you?_

 _I don't want to be so selfish._

 _You? They're the ones being selfish!_

 _What? Because they're keeping a secret from me?_

 _Maybe they're trying to avoid you._

 _That can't be the case. Max is my best friend, and Al has seen every side of me._

 _Think about it. You don't bring any recourses to the group besides the fact that you're a party-pooper who doesn't have any fun. You're nosy, and loud, you think you know better, and you always want to be the center of attention. You're their mother!_

Rose turned over in her bed and threw her pillow over her head, not having a reply for her conscience. Cromwell hooted softly and snuggled against her arm. Slowly she felt her scowl relax into sleep.

"Wake up, Rosie, wake up!" someone's whispering voice broke her dream of drowning.

"You have Quidditch practice! They've started without you!" At this, her eyes flew open, and she saw Max kneeling before her.

Anger rushed through her again at the sight of him, and she couldn't remember right away, why. She sat up, rigid as her muscles stiffened and she grabbed her neck in pain.

"You fell asleep angry, didn't you?" said Max standing up straight with his eyebrows raised in disappointment. "You know what I say, never go to bed angry! The tension will tear your muscles apart."

"Can't imagine why I would have done that," she said tensely, now remembering why.

"Come on, we've got to get you to the pitch," Max whispered as Danielle Daniels stirred. "Before certain people wake up."

She did as was instructed and left the common room with her broomstick in hand feeling rather lousy. She was sore and upset, and she hadn't done anything with her red frizzy hair.

"How'd you know to get me?" she asked. "You guys don't come down until the half hour at the end of practice."

"Rocky sent me a whispering howler informing me that you weren't there, which was no doubt still loud."

"Why didn't they send me one?"

Max shrugged unconcernedly. Rose felt a bit of the bitterness that had welded up inside of her slip away. He had received a howler for her not being at practice, then he had gotten up and dressed, and somehow got up the girl's boobytrapped staircase to wake her up. He didn't complain; he didn't rant about the inconvenience of it, nor did he get fussy with her not getting up on time. She reached over and held his arm, partly because she felt a sudden compassion for him, partly because she was so tired she thought she was going to fall over.

Quidditch practice was just what she needed, not to forget about being upset, she was still upset, but to take her mind from the situation for a few short hours. She was a fine beater, and there was nothing more therapeutic than hitting bludgers at people. Max had just been joined in the stands by Scorpius and Al who was hauling food as usual. She felt anger again when seeing the new golden trio and swung her bat which made contact with Watson's stomach rather than the bludger that also hit Watson in the stomach.

Rocky blew his whistle and called the end of practice, partly because the breakfast boys had arrived, partly because Watson was coughing up blood. The whole team flew to the ground, and Rose dropped her broom as she rushed to Watson Trout.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed in horror. "Really Watson! I didn't mean-!"

"Hospital," he gagged. "Take me to the hospital wing."

Watson didn't sound angry as he rarely was, but he did sound stern and serious. Rose hoisted Watson's arm over her neck and began helping him off the pitch. It was lucky he was rather small. There was a rustling of footsteps, and the weight of a body was lifted off her shoulders. She looked up to see Scorpius looking extremely exhausted with large bags under his eyes but still taking the Gryffindor from her.

"I've got it, bud," said Max, striding over and taking Watson from his friends' shoulders. "You need your energy, go eat." Scorpius nodded and took back to the stands.

"Max, you really don't have to help me," she said as Max adjusted Watson over his neck.

"I'm not," he replied. "I'm taking him, and you're going to the stands to eat."

"No, I'm not!" she exclaimed. "I hit him; I take him to the hospital."

"You also just worked your tail off in practice and need to eat," Max replied sternly.

"Well I'm not leaving you to deal with my mistakes," she said crossly, fighting to take Watson back.

"That's what friends are supposed to do," Max replied, pulling Watson toward himself again. "You were going to let Scorpius help you!"

"That's only because-" she stopped herself. "No, I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were!" Max exclaimed triumphantly. "You had to stop yourself. That's your ' _oops. I didn't mean to say that_ ' face!"

"Okay!" They stopped arguing to see Watson say painfully struggling away from them like he had been trying to do since the start of their tug-of-war. "As much as I would like to find out who wins, I think I have a broken rip and am going to crawl to the hospital wing if you don't mind."

Max sighed and hoisted Watson back onto his shoulder before rolling his eyes at Rose who took Watson's other arm around her neck and continued off the pitch. She knew one thing now; Max still thought of them as friends, and he wasn't avoiding her.

Getting Watson to the hospital wing would have been easy if he didn't groan in agony and grasp his side with a gasp every time they took a step. Rose felt horrible, absolutely like the worst person in the world. They were able to finally drag him onto a cot where they alerted Madam Pomfrey of the situation. They would have stayed by his bed until all three of his rips were mended, but the Matron shooed them to class. They missed the first half of Charms but were otherwise okay.

"What can I say?" Rose asked worriedly after classes while hurrying down a crowded corridor toward the hospital wing. "Gee Watson, sorry I broke your ribs and nearly punctured your lungs?"

"Calm down," Max advised. "This is Watson. It would be different if it were Rocky or James, but he doesn't hold grudges."

"I still think I should have brought him a sweet basket," Rose thought.

"He's vegan, remember? Mother's a doctor; father's a chicken farmer. There would be very little that you could bring him."

Rose stopped before the doors to take a deep breath and think about what she was going to say, but Max hadn't noticed and threw them open. Watson looked over from his white linen bed and smiled at them good-heartedly. Watson was rather tall and thin with wavy blonde hair and big brown eyes. He tried to sit up, but the bindings around his waist and chest prevented him from moving much in that area. Rose and Max helped lift him by the arms, so he was in mostly an upright possession.

"Thank God," said Watson. "I've been bored out of my mind. Pomfrey's making me to my homework." He gestured to the many papers over his blanketed legs.

"You haven't had any more visitors?" Rose asked feeling bad.

"Classes just ended," Watson shrugged. "Most of everyone is depositing their school bags." Max and Rose both had their slung over their shoulders. "I'm not offended."

"Watson," Rose pleaded. "I am so sorry, really, I feel horrible."

"It's fine," Watson assured her. "I'm still alive."

"How are you feeling?" asked Max, taking a seat at the end of the cot.

"Well, I can feel them mending," he replied hesitantly.

"Painfully?" Max asked.

"I wasn't going to say anything," he replied with a sideways glance at Rose who was gripping her hands close to her mouth. "They feel like microscopic magnets connecting one at a time."

Rose had no idea what microscopic magnets were.

"But Madam Pomfrey can mend bones in a minute," Max said confusedly.

"The broken pieces were too close to my lungs to mend that fast, they have to be slowly gathered away from my center chest before healing can begin."

"So, have you had anything to eat all day?" asked Max, but Watson had suddenly stopped paying them attention.

A small group of girls had just entered the hospital wing and walked straight up to his bed. A beautiful blonde girl was being jostled encouragingly as the other girl's giggles and shoved her over. She was gazing fixedly at him from the front, but Watson's gaze was for a girl Rose knew as Nolly Madison, a caramel-skinned, black curly-haired, kind smile Gryffindor, girl in the back of the group.

"I heard about what happened," said the blond girl with an angry glance at Rose. "So, I made you brownies galore!" she said, holding up a basket of chocolate chip, gooey brownies. She apparently didn't know that he was vegan.

"Er, thanks," he said taking the basket and setting it on the table next to him.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Watson glanced around, the blonde girl (Hannah Young) stared at him dreamily, and Rose and Max dared not to speak. Luckily, the silence was broken by the bang of the hospital doors bursting open by force of the remaining Gryffindor team.

"Trout!" Rocky called, striding over. "How're you feeling?"

"Uh, well," he struggled for words.

"Oooh, not good Rocky," said Ishmael.

"Even worse," started Isaac, he nodded discreetly toward Nolly.

"But you'll be good for practice tonight?" Rocky asked.

"Well, I-" Watson started.

"No, he cannot!" came the stern voice of the Matron emerging from the side room with a cup of medicine which she handed to Watson after pushing through the crowd of girls. "Even small movements in the torso can rip the bones back apart, and we'd have to start all over!"

"Well," Rocky thought. "How long will this take, surely by tomorrow-"

"No, not tomorrow either!" Pomfrey interrupted again.

"But we have the first game of the season tomorrow!" Rocky exclaimed.

"Don't shout at me, Rockward," said Pomfrey. "I am only mending what has already been done."

A few people glanced at Rose who was white-faced.

"But we can't start a game with too few players!" Rocky exclaimed. "We'd be forfeiting!"

"We are _not_ forfeiting to Hufflepuff!" said James.

"We need a new chaser!" said Enoc. "Watson, do you remember who was runner-up?"

"No," said Watson. "They all sucked."

"What about Powel?" asked James.

"That long-haired kid?" asked Isaac. "He's a hippy, dude. Our substitute needs to be aggressive."

"Not aggressive? Have you seen what he does to people who touch his guitar?"

"Hey! I've got it!" said Watson. "Al! We'll have Albus fill in as a chaser! He's done it before!"

"That was in practice," said Ishmael. "We can't legally have a Slytherin play in an actual game."

Rose was horrified at the mess she had caused so close to a game. If they lost to Hufflepuff, it'll be all her fault.

"It won't matter guys," said Rocky, thinking hard. "We can't take on a novice this close to a game; they won't know any of our methods or tactics. We need someone who is familiar with how we fly, or procedures, tricks, and overall style…" There was a silence that followed his words where everybody in the room thought hard.

Then, all at once, in unison, every head in the room, including Madam Pomfrey who had been thinking too, all turned to look, at Max.

Max still had his head down and was thinking of who could fill in that knew all their methods. Someone cleared their throat, and Max looked up, now uncomfortably aware that everyone was watching him.

"What?" Max asked awkwardly. "Did you guys think of someone?"

"For Merlin's sake Vlad, we mean you!" said James.

"What? No!" he exclaimed too loudly, backing up as though they were going to grab him, though Rose wouldn't put it past them.

"Oh, come on!" said Isaac. "You've been there always! In the stands during every practice. You eat with us during our after-practice recaps! You gave us the idea to talk in code, which saved our tails, I might add! You know our ways better than I do! You're perfect!"

Max was blushing crimson, whether from flattery, embarrassment, or fear Rose didn't know, but she was very lukewarm about the idea.

"Rose has seen me play! She knows how bad I am! Remember? Over the Holiday?"

Rose thought back to last year when she, Al, her dad, and Max had played a night game in her backyard. He had been very mediocre, but he hadn't missed a catch. A smile suddenly spread across her face at the idea and Max's face went white, as though this were his death sentence.

"There we go then!" said Rocky, hitting him on the back. "Meet us on the pitch at… well, you know." And the team left the room.

Max looked at Watson pleadingly, but Watson was too busy laughing. "I can do very little for you now, Max," he said.

"Not too hard, Trout, or you'll crack further," said Pomfrey.

"I can go down there for the game tomorrow, can't I?" asked Watson imploringly, doing his trademark puppy dog eyes which he was a pro at and which made Hannah visibly melt.

Pomfrey perused her lips and thought. "Well," she said slowly. "As long as you don't get too excited. I may go down there myself."

Max remained white all the way back to the common room and flopped on the couch when they arrived.

"Oh, come on!" said Rose happily. "This'll be fun!"

"No," said Max. "Watching with popcorn and face paint is fun. But I have never envied you guys."

"Why? Because we're in the spotlight?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with the spotlight. But you guys carry the weight of Gryffindor on your shoulders. The house that wins the Quidditch cup usually wins the house cup too."

"Not necessarily," said Rose. "My parents and Uncle Harry-"

"Were awesome! They were awesome heroes who saved the wizarding world! You need to stop comparing our generation to theirs. We are nothing like them! Harry Potter was incredible, and I am nothing compared to the Golden Trio. I know you don't think about it that way because you know them, you are one of them, but think about it from the rest of our point of views. They are, you are something, and the rest us by comparison, we are, I am nothing."

Rose didn't say anything; she had no idea what to say to that.

"I'm going to take a nap," said Max, glancing down at her watch. "I don't suppose I'll get a lot of sleep tonight."

Rose watched as he walked miserably up the boys' staircase. She had a sudden twinge of guilt. She thought that this would be a fun experience for her. For her to finally be the one assuring him, to be the one who knows more in this circumstance. That they would laugh at silly mistakes or that he would finally understand what it takes to be a Quidditch player and would stop pestering her to do her homework directly after school without taking a nap first. But Max was truly miserable and dreading. She felt as though a good friend would have stood by him and told the team off for forcing this upon him without his consent. But she hadn't done that; she had been selfish. Rose sighed heavily and fell from the arm of the couch onto the sofa where Max had just been sitting. Could she do nothing right?

"Someone's mopey." Rose opened her eyes to see Tyler Garner leaning over the couch at her.

"Not now, Garner," she said rolling over.

Tyler sighed. "Look, I know your problem, really, every Gryffindor knows when your upset, why. I'm not going to get so say it for a while so… you need to make it up with that metamorphmagus kid."

"Don't act like you don't know his name," Rose said.

"You two are always together… always. You need to talk to him, tell him what's bothering you. He'll tell you what's bothering him and you'll be happy again. That's how it's been for almost two years; I'm surprised that you haven't figured it out yet."

"Why do you care if I'm upset?" she asked perplexedly.

"Well, really I don't. But Gryffindor has a game tomorrow, and I need you focused if we're going to win," Tyler replied.

"Why aren't you going to get to say it for a while?" she asked.

Tyler opened his mouth to respond, but James tapped his friend on the shoulder, and he stopped to roll his eyes as they both walked to the center of the room. Rose sat up, interested but also dreading that James was about to do something stupid. The boys climbed onto the table in the middle, and James whistled with his two fingers. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to watch, some looking excited, other looking worried.

"May I have your attention, please!" James called in a demanding and authority tone. "I suppose that the greater part of you have at some point have been told off for talking in class!"

There was a murmur of assurance.

"But we are Gryffindors aren't we?" There were a few whoops. "They shouldn't tell us what we can and can't say!" More whoops. "You know what I propose?" James paused for effect. "I say we give them just what they want!" shouts of agreement. "We staying silent!" Only two people cheered at this but quickly stifled.

There was a pause. "You're saying we stop talking?" asked a fourth-year girl.

"Yup," James replied.

"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard," said a first-year boy.

"Look here!" called Tyler. "We give them what they think they want and show them how little they actually want it!" There was another silence where the room stared confusedly. "What bothers teachers more than anything else?"

"When we talk," said Obadiah obviously.

"No, it's when we don't answer their questions! They think they don't have our attention. We spend a month not talking they'll be begging for our us to talk."

"That's a stupid plan."

"No, it's not actually."

There was a murmur of conversation as students discussed the idea.

"In the name of Potter-Garner, we call strike!" called James. Half the room cheered, the other half looked hesitant.

James and Tyler made a gesture of zipping their mouths and climbed from the table. Rose watched James walk past. She had heard his speeches before, the ones he was passionate about or decided, but this wasn't one.

What were they up to?

Snoopy crept in again as she found herself following them up the boy's staircase. James and Tyler retired to their dorm and shut the door behind them. Curiosity swept through her again as she thought. The second most logical thought met her interest; the first would be to turn and walk away. She swept down the halls until she came across the door with a brass number '6' that was most damaged and burnt and she swung it open, hoping that she was right. Fritz Nutter was in this room drawing out the school grounds on a giant map with many pins and arrows cluttering the canvas. Ortho Truette was on his bed studying Language Arts when she walked in, and both boys froze.

"Red?" said Fritz, quickly ripping the canvas map from the wall. "Are you lost? Or are you just looking for-"

"Shut up and give me Fred's spyglass!" she interrupted, searching around what she assumed to be Fred's bed based on the pile of trinkets and food wrappers atop the covers.

"Yes, your Majesty!" said Fritz sarcastically, taking the spyglass from Ortho who was handing it to him. Rose snatched it up and ran from the room. "Mischief must run through the family," Fritz whispered as she shut the door.

She crouched to the base of James and Tyler's dormitory door and pressed the spyglass upon the wood before looking through it. Another trick from the Weasely's Wizard Wheezes, the spyglass looked like an ordinary drinking glass but when the bottom in placed against a solid surface it gives the user the ability to see through the glass and into the other side of the solid surface. This product was dangerous and only sold to Ministry corporations, but of course, Fred had one.

Rose slipped the hood of her robe over her matted red hair to prevent boys at first glance from realizing that she was a girl as long as they didn't find it suspicious that s/he was wearing a skirt.

She spotted Tyler and James rummaging through James' dresser to finally emerge with a small wooden box that was Hagrid's gift to James in first year. James took a deep breath and pulled from the box two… things… They were flat and small, maybe bread, maybe leaves, maybe some potion ingredient. The two boys took a deep breath and together said four words, all starting with either 'A' or 'O' (the spyglass didn't enable hearing) and put the flat piece of whatever under their tongue. Rose pulled away from the door, perplexed. She turned back to the spyglass and peered through. James and Tyler were now making wide hand gestures at each other and responding to them like they were having a conversation… they were speaking in bloody sign language!

What were they doing? Why? Rose covered her face. This was not what she needed, another mystery. _You couldn't leave it alone, could you?_ She thought. _That's what you get when you listen to Snoopy._

She pulled off her hood and turned to leave but found that her path was blocked by probably half the guys that live down this hall. They were all gathered around, watching her curiously, including Fred, Ortho, and Fritz.

"Is that my spyglass?" asked Fred.

Rose looked from Fred to the glass in her hand, then back to Fred. "Yes," she answered composedly, shoving the item back into his hands and pushing through the crowd.

"You don't have to do this," said Rose as she and Max made their way toward the front door for practice.

"Yes, I do," he replied. "I do now."

Rose felt guilty again. She wanted to take his mind off Quidditch in the only way she knew how. "You know, James and Tyler are up to something. I found out; they're going on a silent strike for a bigger reason than what they're letting on."

Max became suddenly excited. "That's odd!" he said, taking Rose by surprise. "You should defiantly look into that! I'll help if you want."

"What happened to let them have their space and give people privacy?" she asked, now halfway across the grounds.

"Oh, come on," Max shrugged. "That was with Scorbus. This is James and Tyler, they are probably up to something much more dangerous than our boys, not that I'm saying Scorbus is up to anything dangerous at all!" he hurried.

Rose didn't respond. She found this behavior of mischievous nosiness to be more suspicious than if he hadn't responded at all. They emerged onto the Quidditch pitch and were both welcomed by slaps on the back. Max placed Al's broom that he was allowed to borrow against the wall of the dressing room as he left to dress into a spare uniform. He emerged with the white pants, red and gold turtle-neck and long strapped red robe with the number '2' on the back. He looked good.

Max was terrified, Rose could tell. He took to the air sloppily and played. He wasn't terrible, but he was no Watson. He had little accuracy but a good arm and catch, but he wasn't swift on his broom, though nobody would know that because the Firebolt broomstick he was riding was a naturally swift ride making him travel the same speed as the rest of the team but not riding the broomstick to its full potential. At the end of it all, the team agreed only to pass to Max if there was no other way, and Max wholeheartedly agreed.


	13. The New Chaser

The great hall was rather noisy the next day, but the sound wasn't coming from the Gryffindor table. Half of its residents had apparently taken apart in James and Tyler's stupid fake strike. Rose was eating, but Max hadn't taken a bite. She would try to encourage him to, but every Gryffindor had gone hungry when faced with their first match and she knew he would probably throw up whatever he decided to eat anyway.

"I just think this is really cool," said Al during breakfast after hearing about Max's recruitment.

Rose had hardly seen Al or Scor except for in passing corridors after Quidditch practice and dinner. They hadn't been showing up for Library studying, Astronomy tutoring, or hardly even breakfast. Today, though, it seemed, they couldn't resist the first match of the season.

"I still don't understand why Quidditch season starts a month early," said Scorpius. Both boys looked exhausted as they always did when Rose did see them.

"Starting the season a month early makes us finish a month early so we would have more time to revise for our exams," Rose answered before embarking on a delicious looking jam tart. "Apparently, it's the Quidditch teams that have the lower grade scores due to the stress and exhaustion of the season. Professor Kemp tried this early method last year, and it proved effective." Rose glanced over at Max again who had his now green hair in his hands and was staring down at the table as he had been for the past six minutes. "Max," Rose pleaded. "At least have something to drink, some water, you'll get all dehydrated and fall from the sky."

He obeyed and took the water in such small increments it was as though he was drinking scotch. Students were already flooding from the great hall to get good seats in the Quidditch stands, and it was when Rocky stood, that all the rest of the team did as well. The Gryffindor table clapped as they left which only made Max paler, he didn't want praise for something he might ruin.

It was a good day for Quidditch. The ground was firm, the sky was blue, and despite the chilly October air that would undoubtedly grow colder as they sped through it, Rocky was quite pleased. Again, the Quidditch players met up in their dressing rooms, changed into their Quidditch robes, and listened to their captain give them a pep talk before waiting for their names to be called from the outside. The boys jostled each other's hair and barked and boomed, all excited about the game that awaited. Max and Rose sat in silence. She wanted to be excited and celebratory with her friends, but that would only make Max sicker. There was a sudden gasping coming from outside and Watson Trout swung into the room looking excited but stopped to clutch his side and cough.

"Merlin's beard, man!" Ishmael exclaimed. "What are you doing down here?"

"I wanted to see everyone!" he smiled. "Mainly you." He looked at Max. "Look," he started. "You are terrified, but I want you to relax."

"I'm going to ruin the game for you guys!" Max croaked.

"Of course you are with that attitude!" Watson smiled. "The trademark thing for the Gryffindor team that always wins us the match is confidence, pride, maybe a little cockiness as long as you don't let it get to your head." Max didn't seem to be listening. Watson sighed. "If you're too busy thinking you're gonna fail, then you don't have time to focus on things like catching the quaffle, and…" he glanced at Rose then whispered something in Max's ear that made him sit up straight and look confused, but which Rose couldn't understand. Watson smiled and slapped Max on the back before walking out with a grin and a salute to the team.

"What'd he say?" Rose asked sitting beside her friend.

Max thought for a moment. "I have no idea," he replied slowly.

An eruption of noise announcing the intro to the game issuing from the commentators stand told the team that they had three minutes to get ready. They bustled around lacing up boots and fastening their robe strings, ruffling their hair and dancing around to loosen up. The commentators announced the Gryffindor team as everyone within the dressing rooms climbed over each other to get in line, stepping on toes and catching their boot buckles to each other's until they fell from the tent in a perfect single-file line as though the commotion within had never happened.

Max was clutching his broomstick as though his life depended on it. They stopped before the Hufflepuff team who looked cheerful and excited. Illya Vizzini and Rose were face to face with each other, both of them being beaters. He smiled and looked quite surprised that she had made beater and gave her a curt nod that made her stomach do a summersault. She cursed the inconvenient feeling as they were told to mount their brooms. She had not admitted that she had a small crush on this handsome blonde Hufflepuff the previous year and though it was for sure gone, she still got butterflies when he smiled at her.

A loud whistling ripped through her thoughts as they took to the air. Madam Hooch who was refereeing released into the air, the bludgers, the snitch, and finally with the release of the quaffle, the game commenced. Rose swooped down and whacked a bludger away from Isaac as he tossed the quaffle to, everyone's surprise, Max. Max was so startled that he dropped it which was a mistake, but good because it allowed Ishmael to catch in from below and make a discreet shot pass the Hufflepuff keeper and make the first goal of the season. Isaac hit Max on the back as though he had meant to drop it and continued to wrestle the quaffle from Wistle.

"First goal of the season made my Ishmael Stewart! Congratulations, Ishmael!" Fred's voice boomed from the commentator's stand followed his sister's, Roxanne.

"And it looks like Gryffindor had a substitute chaser!" she called. "A second year by the name of Vladimir Everard! But you'll know him as the metamorphmagus with the purple hair!"

Rose tried to watch Max when she could, but she couldn't spare the time to look or else she or one of her teammates could break a jaw. There really was a lot of pressure on the beaters.

She ducked as Enoc's bat made contact with the bludger that was darting toward her and she, in turn, aimed the other at Hufflepuff captain and chaser, Lime.

From what seemed like nowhere, the sky grew dark and thick gray clouds devoured the blue sky. Rose glanced at her watch which had been the baby blue of the sky but which was now swirling into gray. They hadn't counted on rain; they hadn't trained Max for it either. Heavy drops of rain began to fall until the air was thick with it, making it much more difficult to see. Rose's bat kept sliding from her hand even without swinging it. The ground became muddy and full of puddles to the point that Madam Hooch was forced to use her old broom as a bench to watch the game from below rather than standing in the sludge.

Ishmael swooped by with the quaffle under arm and Rose almost tumbled as he flew by, having not seen him until it was almost too late. She swung at a bludger that was heading for Max and found that it was he who now had the quaffle and he who made a pass through the goal hoop. Rose cheered out loud before she noticed that somehow, Max was covered from head to toe in mud.

Rose was freezing and soaked to the bone as she made every attempt to succeed as the first female Gryffindor beater in over two-hundred years, but she wasn't finding the task easy. Twice, she saw bludgers fly by and wasn't able to retrace them though the sudden storm. A whistle blew announcing the end of the game. Rose didn't know who won, she couldn't see the score through the down poor.

"Who won?" she asked Rocky as he swept down into the mud. He grinned and showed her the snitch in his hand worth one-hundred fifty points. "What's the score?" she asked.

"Gryffindor 250 to Hufflepuff 90," Rocky replied.

Rose was shocked that they had only been ten points ahead before the catch of the snitch. She looked to find James hit the ground, sweaty and red.

"What happened?" she barked. "Hufflepuff made nine shots past you!"

He scowled. "And I blocked thirteen! I kept sliding off my broom! And where were you when the bludger hit Isaac? He had to drop the quaffle?"

"Who cares?" came Isaac's excited voice dropping from the sky. He hit the ground, nursing a black eye. "We won!"

"Where's Max?" she asked, now realizing that he was absent.

Isaac cupped his eyes to watch as a blur shoot from the sky. Max hit the ground so hard that a wave of mud engulfed his legs but miraculously, he remained on his feet.

"Max! We won!" Rose exclaimed, punching him in the arm.

"Never. Again." Max said, tense and ridged, handing the broom to Al who had just made his way down to congratulate them.

Rose's gloves were wet but otherwise still clean. She used them to wipe the mud from Max's face and eyes and smiled at him. It took a moment, but it was apparently the fact that she looked so jostled from the game that made him smile too.

"That was incredible!" said Scorpius excitedly. "Four goals you made with only one practice! Makes me think that even I have a shot!"

"Of course you do," Max smiled.

"Merlin's beard, Max! You did it! You did it!" Watson was running toward them clutching his side again and looking to be in much pain. Madam Pomfrey was chasing after him like an angry goose.

"Not so fast, Trout!" she screeched.

"Oh," Watson gasped. "Thank you! Next time I'm unable to play, I'm calling-"

"Ortho!" Max interrupted. "Next time you're unable to play, you're calling someone else."

Rocky clapped him on the back and laughed. "You had me going for a moment there! But you know the drill, Gryffindor victory party, now!"

He suddenly stopped and looked at Al and Scorpius, as did everyone else. An awkward moment passed.

"Uh," muttered Al. "We're gonna walk away now, don't party too hard!" he called behind him.

Rose was excited about the victory party but was also quite discouraged that she couldn't spend it with Albus and Scor; she hadn't seen them in weeks is seemed.

Her discomfort with not spending time with Alcor was wiped clean from her mind with the party raging in the tower above. It was quite peculiar. As always, the parties were full of food and music, music and… more food, but one thing was mostly missing, the voices that usually engulfed the tunes. Half of the Gryffindors smiled and waved glasses, took pictures and celebrated in the same way anyone else would, but no words were issuing from their mouths; Rose felt as though she were in the early stages of going deaf. But for the first time, Max was getting the attention custom to Quidditch players. He got a banner and photos, praise, and a lot of attention from people he didn't know and by the look on Max's face, he liked it.

Two hours later, butterbeer bottles littered the crimson carpets along with cake crumbs, sweet wrappers, confetti and most of the Quidditch team lay sprawled out over the junk. Max was lucky enough to get the couch and Rose stood looking at the mess. She had left the chug game for three minutes to go to the toilet, and this is what she comes back to find? Rose wasn't going to attempt to carry these boys to bed. Instead, she took the throws from the sofas and chairs and draped the exhausted boys. She also thought it would be necessary and nice to pull the custard tart out from under Enoc's head and flip James, so he wasn't face down… then she made for her warm, made-up, crump-free bed in her private dormitory… after snapping a photo with Meredith Creevey's camera of course.


	14. Rose Jumps Down a Throat

Max woke the week after the Quidditch match to the sound of metal clinking together and opened his eyes to see one of his roommates, Micah Merlia, knitting fingerless gloves in bed. Calvert was sketching his comic book characters, Daniel was already downstairs, and Benjamin was still asleep, waiting until class starts to get up probably. Maddox stretched and swung the covers off the get dressed in his school uniform. He turned to the bathroom mirror and chose to go with navy blue hair today, not like it was much different from the indigo before. He made sure his wavy hair hung symmetrically in his face but not in his eyes, brushed his teeth, and made for the common room with his book bag slung over his shoulder.

Two at a time he skipped down the stairs and stopped to peer around the room. A few sixth years were playing wizard chess on his sofa, Hugo, and his posse was in their corner with their muggle stuff; today it looked like they were discussing flipflops. A few more scattered students resided in the room, but none showed the person he was looking for. He wasn't surprised nor did he know why he was looking, that mane of curly red hair didn't show up until thirty minutes after he got up. Instead, he took to the only pass time he knew and began playing exploding snap with Oliver, Owen, and Oscar as he normally did in the morning. They were much better at the game than he was, but Max highly suspected that the reasoning was because they could cheat and lie about it later.

He had been bamboozled by the game, and his cards had blown up four times already, puffing thick smoke into his face as usual. Suddenly, a wave of a familiar sweet smell swept by him and the even more familiar gentle touch on his shoulder was his best friend letting him know that she was there and ready to eat. He dropped his cards, more gently this time or they'd explode, and made to the exit with her, hoping that she wasn't going to be angry with him today.

He sometimes wished that she had color-changing eyes telling him when she was upset, but he supposed it wouldn't matter, he usually could tell. Today, though, based on her smile at him, she wasn't angry for reasons he could do nothing about without betraying friends, but mystery and eagerness, mischief, and suspicion still lingered behind her chocolate brown eyes and her tone clearly told him that her mind was full of worry. He sometimes thought he had a future as a seer or was perhaps a physic. He could detect things in people and emotions that very few could pick up on.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked as was usual for their morning routine.

"Yep," she replied, and he blessed the morning that she didn't go into a rant about Cromwell, the irksome owl. "You?"

"Just as well as always," he replied. There was a silence where Rose didn't say anything, which was a bad sign but which had been going on for over a week. "Did you discover anything else about James and Tyler's talking strike or sign language deal?" he asked to break the silence. She had mentioned this new mystery about her cousin and his friend last week, and he had blessed that she did. Anything to take her mind from Scorbus's deal.

"No," she replied shortly but with a pleasant tone in her voice.

Max thought for a moment. He reckons that he had put her off their secret by his overly enthusiastic attitude toward the news; he should have played it cool, played hard to get, that would have made her take the bait. He thought about Scorbus and their secret, something that was apparently so significant that he had been cut from. He remembered over a week ago when the boys had taken him aside in the garden after Rose had fallen asleep in the grass. To put it simply the two boys had told him that they would no longer be able to keep him in touch with the mystery. He had made them divulge that they had found out what the beast was but they had refused to tell him for reasons ' _bigger than themselves_ '. He had become angry and had regretted lashing out at them. That's one of the reasons he suspected they hadn't been coming around as often. He hadn't been angry that they wouldn't tell him, he had tried to make them tell Rose because he knew how much this meant to her and how much it would hurt her to find out that they knew and she didn't; she took everything so personally. It didn't help either that he had spotted her peeking from the grass at their conversation. Ever since that day, that tiny little peek, it was clear that Rose was furious with him, him more than the other two even. He had broken what was most important to her, not her heart, but her trust. And it was easy to figure out after a bit of hard labor and upper body strength to make it to the girl's dormitory that she had fallen asleep angry at him. Now he had to live with the fact that he was keeping a dead-end secret, he broke her trust and hurt his friend, and had actually caused her physical pain.

He had hated filling in for Watson in Quidditch and never intended to do it again, but it had brought more than one benefit. Besides the fact that he got to eat and party all night, he had been able to play the victim of forced consent, and Rose had sympathized with him, making her forget that she was angry, at least for a little while.

He reached over and pulled a long brown feather from her hair. The owl often left them. She smiled sweetly and took the feather that he was presenting her. He had complained about how much she talked, how he couldn't get her to shut up, how she went on and on, but now, he would ender the pain of lying if it meant things would go back to normal and she would start gabbing again.

"How much do you want to bet Al and Scor will be at breakfast today?" she asked as they skipped over a trick step that often tried to launch its occupants into the air.

"I don't bet on things I don't think I can win," he replied emerging onto the first landing.

"It's as if they don't get hungry anymore," she said.

"Well," Max started now throwing open the doors to the great hall. "Not to sound house-ist, but Slytherin probably has plenty of stolen food in their dormitory."

They joined the Gryffindor table with Dominique who was listening to her blind friend, Malcom Dinally, someone who Dominique had apparently taken a liking to and the only boy allowed in the group of beautiful, popular girls. Probably because Malcom had no idea that they were the most beautiful girls in school, nor did he care. Max turned to peer at the Slytherin table for Scorpius or Al. He greatly missed his friends and was becoming bitter toward them for putting other priorities before friendship. They were absent as he expected them to be. So much for a package deal. Scorpius, Rose, and Al were the three Musketeers, and he was D'artagnan. Now it's just D'artagnan and one Musketeer? That was sort of wrong. He glared back around and thought hard.

It was the usual loud screeching that announced the morning post as hundreds of owls swooped in to drop letters and packages amongst the students. Rose caught a letter from home as she received at least twice a week. Max peered up anticipant. He had developed a plan over the past week that he hoped would fix their split friendship, at least or a night. If the letter arrived today, he would still have just enough time to fix any kinks and give his friends an experience to be remembered for years to come. Max clenched his fists around his plate of bacon as he watched the feather infested air. A brown envelope fell above him, and he was so excited that he forgot to catch it and watched it land in Tyler's cereal. Tyler scowled when handing it back, and Max knew that the action would have no doubt been followed by one of the sarcastic comments he was famous for if it weren't for the mysterious bit of something under his tongue.

"Who's that from?" Rose asked while retrieving the newspaper from James's waffles that he had also forgotten to catch.

"Who do you think?" he decided to say, wanting to keep his plan a surprise.

Rose assumed that the letter was from his dad considering he didn't have any friends back home and she didn't press further. Max ripped open the envelope and grinned broadly when finding just what he wanted inside. He had requested information from an old neighbor back home, and this letter contained everything he needed.

"We need to head to Transfiguration," Rose said glancing at her watch.

Max blinked and tucked the letter into his pocket before swinging his book bag over his shoulder and following Rose from the great hall. He noticed his friend glance suspiciously over at his pocket. He had forgotten that he normally threw his father's letter away when he was finished, and he hoped that she wasn't going to start asking questions. She shook herself slightly and continued without a word, and he was grateful.

Transfiguration wasn't as bad as usual because he hadn't been listening at all. He had been pouring over his letter and working things out in his head, therefore, not having any idea what the object of the lesson was about and having no clue what Professor Donima wanted them to accomplish. He ended up just waving his wand and copying Rose as he normally. Lucky for him, though, nothing happened to the hat he was given, lucky because when something did happen, it usually came with pain or burns. Rose was trying to explain how she had made her hat turn into a hand soap dispenser to Max which the Professor allowed her to do, knowing that Max could use all the help he could get. He did exactly as she had instructed, quoted the words the exact same way in a close to same voice that made Rose roll her eyes, and he even made the same swishing motion with his wand, but nothing happened.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was better. He loved this subject because he got to play with magical beasts and blast things, which was all a twelve-year-old-boy could ask for. Professor Dalbert looked more and more tired every time they saw him, but that didn't stop this man from teaching with everything he had in him. Though Max did wish that they focused more on wand work, they had learned how to treat animal bites, venoms, scratches, and how to ward off certain beasts.

Max was most looking forward to Herbology, not because he liked the subject, he was mediocre, and he highly disliked the substitute for Professor Longbottom, but because Gryffindor studied with Slytherin, and Max had something to tell Scorbus.

The class filed through the door and gathered around the dirty old table containing spotted tongues of a devil blossom apparently. They had to dissect the tongues and identify the components. It was revolting. Scorpius who had chosen a spot next to Max and Rose with Al was constantly gagging through the lesson. Al handed him a flower pot just in case he needed it. At the end of class, the pot was filled with three separate people's sick. The class was coming to an end when they were instructed to put the tongues back together. Max was trying to work out what he was going to say to Scor and Al about his plan. He decided that the way it needed to be told had to be done in a way Rose mustn't hear. Max tried to work out a way to get rid of her for two minutes. He decided and pulled her Herbology book from the table while she was distracted applying sealant sap with her finger to the tongues slice. He discreetly placed it on the ground and kicked it across the room where it hit the base of a plant in the corner. Maybe it was lucky, maybe not, but the plant seemed angry that it's resting place had been disturbed and gobbled up the book with a lot of sab and slime because of it. Max turned away with wide eyes at Rose who hadn't seen a thing.

Al and Scor smiled as they left. "See you guys later!" Al called to his friends behind him.

Max and Rose followed. "Do you have all your books?" Max asked.

"Of course I do," Rose replied. "I have-" she stopped to peer confusedly into her book bag. "Excuse me," she said before hurrying into the greenhouse that the Professor had just left open.

Max waited until she was out of sight before grabbing the two Slytherin boys by their robes. They both choked and turned angrily.

"Max?" said Al. "We thought you were, Rose. Don't grab us like that!"

"I need to talk to you!" he whispered with a look at Rose's silhouette that was peering under tables and plants.

"Right now?" asked Al. "We have to get to-"

"Yes, now," Max interrupted. "I want you to meet me by the statue of the one-eyed witch's tomorrow at four-thirty."

The boys looked confused. "Halloween?" asked Scorpius.

"Unless there's another tomorrow night I don't know about," Max said sarcastically.

"Uh…" the two boys looked at each other, contemplating the idea.

Max looked back around at Rose's silhouette which was now wrestling violently with the plant for her book. "We're going you know where" Max said.

"Hogsmeade?" Al clarified with a smile.

"Yes, but you have to be very discreet," Max whispered.

"Oh," Al said less enthusiastically with another look at Scorpius. "I don't think we can."

Max scowled. "You have completely cut yourself out of our lives ever since that thing showed up!" he said angrily. "You are putting this thing you just met before friends," he jabbed is finger at Scorpius' chest. "And family," he said to Al. "You have no idea what you're doing to her!" he pointed at her silhouette that was now halfway inside the plant itself. "She is miserable, and it's the fault of your secret. Now I'm sure that this beast is pretty important for you to be putting it on such I high pedestal before so many important things like relationships and studies, but you owe it to Rose to take one night off. That's all I'm asking, one night. Do it for her, all she wants is her team back."

Scorpius and Al looked at each other again, but with this time, it was with confliction. Al smiled and nodded solemnly.

"Good, come in your uniform," said Max. "I don't want any whispering or secrets code about your secret, pretend as though it never happened. Now if you'll excuse me, I think Rose is being eaten." Max turned and ran back into the greenhouse where he grabbed her around the waist and heaved her from the throat of the plant.

Rose skipped back up to the castle, covered in slime and sap, her hair standing on end and her clothes soaked, but looking rather pleased with her Herbology book pressed to her chest. She hadn't been eaten. She had jumped into the plant's throat to retrieve her book. The thing kept trying to spit her up, but she had refused to come out until she had extracted its last meal.


	15. Trick or Treat

"Max, I'm wet, and I'm freezing cold," Rose said mid-Halloween day when being led secretly through the castle.

Max rolled his eyes at her complaints. She had just come into the common room after taking a shower where Max forced her into her shoes and had drug her out. He had successfully kept his plans a secret, but Rose wasn't one for surprises.

"Won't you just get into the Halloween spirit of surprise?" he asked, trying to ignore how cold he was too.

The October air was freezing and the castle was empty because most third years and above were permitted to visit Hogsmeade, the local all magic town, a couple times a year. This year, one of the Hogsmeade dates were set on 31, October. They stepped on crunchy leaves as they headed outside across the courtyard where the statue resided. This statue was the only known safe secret passageway in and out of Hogsmeade. Them, being only in second year weren't permitted to go but had gone last year anyway by means of masks. Drawing closer, Max caught sight of Al and Scorpius leaning against the one-eyed, humped witch statue with expressions somewhere between excitement, curiosity, and anxiety.

Rose's face brightened when seeing them waiting for her and looked up at Max with playful curiosity. She put on a blank expression when approaching the boys; she didn't want to let on how much she had missed them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Rose asked kindly.

The boys glanced at Max. "We don't know yet," they replied.

Rose's expression fell a fraction; Max could tell that she wanted them to miss her as well. "Based on where we're standing, or more accurately, what we're standing in front of, on this day, where do you think we're going?" Max asked.

Rose smiled broadly, then suddenly dropped her grin. "But Max," she said. "We haven't planned anything, we don't have masks or costumes, and we're still not old enough to go without being expelled!"

"We're not going to Hogsmeade exactly," said Max with a mischievous smile. All three of his friends furrowed their eyebrows in confusion. "You need to trust me." Max smiled as this brought back a major déjà vu from his first year when meeting these people for the first time. It was then also that they had followed him across the grounds mysteriously as he took them to a magical garden. Today, though, he was taking them somewhere almost exactly opposite.

He opened his mouth to utter the words, ' _dissendium'_ when a booming voice behind them startled the group to jump.

"Happy Halloween, yeh lot!" It was Hagrid. He was striding up with an armful of pumpkins probably for the Halloween feast.

"Hello, Hagrid," they all said in unison, which only happened when they were hiding something.

Hagrid looked suspicious for a moment at the four kids smiling with their hands folded neatly behind their backs. "Wha'r yeh lot doin' down er' on Halloween?" he asked.

"We were just admiring this statue," Scorpius replied, gazing fixedly at the witch's mangled face.

Hagrid stared up at it too. "I've never liked tha statue, creeps me out," he said.

The four looked at each other amusedly, Hagrid being taller than the thing itself and the burliest man you'd ever see.

"It makes a lot'a funny noises this time o' year," he said. "Anyhow, I best be getting these er' pumpkins to the great hall." And he walked away.

The kids waited until he was long out of sight before Max quickly spoke the spell that made the hump of the witch scrape loudly until it revealed a hole big enough for a small person to fit inside. Max went first, followed by Scorpius who didn't want to go before Rose because she had landed on him last year, then Al slid down the shaft, then Rose. Everything was pitch black after the hump closed and with a ' _lumos'_ four wand tips illuminated the earthy walls and ground.

"You ready?" Max asked, not looking forward to the three-mile hike ahead.

The others nodded, now looking excited, and the trip began. It was a lot more enjoyable this year. They were traveling on their own terms, and James wasn't with them meaning they didn't have a captain telling them what to do nor did they have someone to argue with Al.

"Are you going to tell us where we're going?" Rose asked.

"No," Max replied. "But I'll give you a hint." He pulled three extra sacks from his side bag and handed it behind him.

"Sacks?" said Scorpius. "Yeah, that doesn't clear anything up."

Max smiled at the vagueness of his plan and continued. They were all very sore and tired when they started up an incline and about seven and a half to eight minutes later, they were met with a stone panel above them. Max signaled that they kill the light and stay silent. He slowly lifted the panel to peek through. When seeing that the coast was clear, he climbed out followed by his friends. They had just emerged into a room filled with wooden crates, sweet smells, boxed sweets, and sales signs.

"Honeyduke's Sweet Shop," Max whispered. They were in the cellar of the most popular candy store in Hogsmeade.

Just as Scorpius was placing down the stone panel to hide where they had just emerged from, an old man in a pink apron and a tuft of white hair atop his head came from a side room. He stopped when he spotted them, and his face turned purple with rage.

"What do you think you're doing?" he barked. The man swept over and grabbed Max and Scorpius by the back of their necks and began dragging them up the wooden staircase to the main shop. "Every year, busiest day of the year, you kids have to make our jobs harder by sneaking in and stealing in our cellar," he said had he walked. "Bet you thought you could pull one over on us, didn't you? Well you're wrong, had the place guarded, didn't I?" he swung open the door at the top of the stairs and threw the two boys out before pushing Al and Rose as well. "I don't want to see you back in my shop!" and he shut the door again.

"Well," said Max. "That was easier than I had thought. I was under the impression we would have to sneak out. Come on." The others looked quite frazzled as they followed him still and Max had forgotten that they had probably never been banished from a store before.

"So, I thought we weren't going to Hogsmeade," said Al.

"We're not," Max replied, taking his friends to the back of the shop where no one ever goes. "We're going in there." He pointed to a dark patch of forest guarded by a metal fence.

"But that's the forbidden forest!" said Scorpius worriedly.

"No, _that's_ the forbidden forest." Max pointed at a tiny wooden stake stabbed into the ground fifty meters away with an orange rope around it. "That spike indicates the property line. Come on."

The farther he got his friends to go, the more worried they looked. He stopped before the fence and glanced around to be sure no one was watching. They had already pulled their hoods over their heads to keep themselves from being recognized.

Max took a deep breath and turned to his friends with an expression that they cringed under. "I know I've been saying it all day," he started calmly. "But I really need you to trust me, seriously, close your eyes and don't think."

Rose did this at once, soon followed my Scorpius, then finally, Al gave in. Max took a deep breath and prayed to Merlin that he would screw this up and accidentally kill any of them. Starting with Al who was in the front, Max focused all his might and with a swish and flick of his wand, made Al slowly levitate off the ground. Al wavered slightly and tried to peek at what was going on.

"Don't open your eyes, Al, not even a bit!" Max called, still trying to focus. Al closed his eyes tighter and didn't open them again until the other two and Max were safely on the opposite side of the fence.

The three opened their eyes and gasped in amazement to see themselves on the other side.

"But-" sputtered Scorpius. "How?"

"It's Wingardium Leviosa," Max replied, grinning from ear to ear that they were still alive. "It's the same way we made that feather fly and the same way I made those umbrellas."

"Professor Flitwick can do that!" said Max excitedly. "But how are _you_ able to?"

"I've been practicing during Transfiguration while Professor Donima is talking," Max replied. "Let's go," he urged, and they began through the forest. Max pulled from his pocket the letter that his old neighbor had sent him and stared closely at the map contained within. He grinned again, not at his success with levitating, but at the fact that he was able to levitate Rose. Because if he had truly broken her trust before, he would not have been able to lift her.

This bit of woods seemed no different form the little Max had seen of the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. It was dark and damp, cold with many large tree roots littering the ground and many that blended in so well they were all too easy to trip over. In particular areas, the brush would become so thick that they had to duck walk as the branches pulled off their hoods and caught their hair, especially Rose's. By the time they emerged near the end of the forest, they were all muddy and wet, cold and their hair was sticking up in odd places. They all got a good laugh at each other and helped flatten everything down. They stood still and closed their eyes as Max lifted them over the fence again and to himself.

Scorpius took the lead but stopped on the orange lines of the road.

"I've never been on a road before," he said excitedly. A rumbling drawing closer told Max that this wasn't the time to enjoy the scenery of certain death. He grabbed Scor by the arms and pulled him away from the Simi truck that honked as it drove by. Scorpius stared in awe, apparently unbothered by the fact that he was almost steamrolled. "It's huge!" he exclaimed.

"And you would have been a huge stop on the ground if you hadn't moved," said Max. "You can't just stand in the middle of a muggle road; they won't stop."

"We're in a muggle town?" asked Rose as she peered around toward a small strip.

"Yeah," Max replied now realizing that he would be having to keep them from killing themselves here. He had grown up mostly in a muggle town and knew plenty, but the other had only seen it in passing.

"This is cool and all Max," said Rose turning toward him. "But why did you bring us here?"

A sudden jolt of excitement shot through him as he remembered again why. "On this night, 31 October," he started mysteriously. "Every muggle town decorates their homes with the bones of the dead and give out free candy to the children who utter the threat, ' _Trick or Treat_.'"

The three friends looked intrigued. "So, we go to these people's houses," Al started. "say those words, and they give us candy," Max nodded happily. "And if they don't," Al continued to think. "We curse them?" Max froze and shook his head quickly.

"No, no, no," he said. "Not everyone has to give you candy; it's an empty threat! This is just the muggles way of having fun. For the love of Merlin, please do not curse any of them!"

"Ohhh," said Scorpius. "That's what the sacks are for, to collect the bones of the dead around their homes! It's like a scavenger hunt!"

"No, no," Max tried again, rubbing his eyes. "The sacks are to collect the candy that the muggles will give you. They get to keep their decorations."

"When can we start?" Rose asked looking excited.

"We have about an hour and a half before muggles doors start to open," said Max. "So, we can explore a bit."

They took toward the small muggle strip of rather dodgy buildings; the nice shops were near five miles away.

"Do they have any sweet shops here?" Scor asked. "Given that, we're banished from Honeyduke's."

"I wouldn't eat anything from these shops," said Max. "I don't trust this place."

"How do you know which shops are good and which aren't?" Rose asked, becoming highly interested in the upside-down bike in the corner.

Max took her by the arm to keep her from touching it. "If the place has large colorful paint drawings on the outside, don't go in. That stuff is called graffiti, and very few classy establishments are coated in it."

"Even if it's a pub?" asked Al.

"Especially if it's a pub," said Max. "Why?"

"Because there's a pub with colorful writing on the outside and I want to go in," Al replied, gazing at a brick building with neon lights, smoke issuing form the windows, and music from the inside.

"We can't even enter if we wanted," said Max, pulling Al along now too.

"Why not?"

"Because you have to be eighteen to enter and twenty-one to drink anything other than milk or water," Max replied.

"Twenty-one?" Al exclaimed. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Al, muggles have a lower tolerance to alcohol than we do when they drink it, they do stupid things. Kind of like when you're under the influence of Moonacher."

The party looked confused.

Max sighed. "It's kind of like a potion that they drink which makes them lose part of their brain for a couple of hours, the sensible part."

"Who would want that?" Scorpius asked.

Max shrugged. "People who have been hurt and want to forget."

"So, that's a place of loss and loneliness?" Rose asked with a sad glance back at the pub.

"Pretty much," Max replied.

"Max," Scorpius started. "If we're not allowed to go into any building with graffiti, then we can enter any of these places… especially not that one." He pointed to a sketchy little brick building with a torn canopy and window covered using garbage bags.

Max stopped to look. The sign outside showed photos of muggle body piercings and tattoos. He got suddenly excited. He had only ever heard of these, nobody back home had them, not even the muggles. He leaned down to read the sign and its services.

"Max, this place looks like bad news," said Rose. "We should carry on."

Max, however, wasn't listening. There was his kind of music echoing form inside, and something pulled him.

"Where do you think you're going?" said Al grabbing Max by the arm to stop him from waltzing into the creepy store.

"I just want to look," he said.

The other three looked from the smashed windows and moldy doormat and back to Max in disbelief. "I'll sneak you into the pub later, I'm not planning on getting anything, I'm just curious," said Max.

Al let go of him hesitantly, and they followed him into the building. The inside was very smoky. The walls were covered in tattoo stencils and walls of piercing options. Belts and spikes hung over chairs and music that was nothing but shouted words and overpowering beats issued from speakers around the room and Max smiled as he admired muggles idea of fashion.

"Looking for somethin', kid?" Max hadn't realized that he had wandered up to the front desk.

A younger woman with pink and black hair, tattooed sleeves and neck, more piercings than visible skin and a wad of either Tabaco or chewing gum in her mouth was peering down at him.

"No, I was just looking," he said calmly.

"You gettin' a percin' or ink or what? Kids don't wander in here for the scenery," she said in a rather rough, impatient, smokers voice.

"You provide piercings to people our age?" he asked in disbelief and non-mistakable excitement.

"If you can pay we don't give a coin who's gettin' holes," she replied.

Rose pulled on his sleeve to leave, but he was too busy fiddling with his pockets. He pulled from them, three sickles but realized that he had no muggle money, which perhaps was a good thing considering he thought it to be highly likely that he would have bought a piercing.

The woman reached out and snatched the coins in her hand. She looked at them carefully for a minute, then her eyes widened.

"Bloody balls," she said. "This is real silva'. Oi, Jip! Jippy, come er'!" An old man with tired eyes and holes in his face emerged from a back room hidden by a wall of beads. "Jip, what does this look like to yah?"

Jip slipped a humorously large pair of glasses over his nose to stare at the sickles.

"Would you look at that?" he whispered to himself.

"Polly, you give these kids what they want," he said before exiting the lobby with the coins clutched in his hands.

"Well what'll it be, kid?" she said excitedly, taking Max by the shoulders and shoving him into a chair.

"Well I wasn't planning on-" he started, looking quite surprised and his friends standing beside him looking scared.

"Come on, spit it out," she barked, losing her smile. "I have money to be spendin'. Tattoo or peircin'?"

"Piercing," Max said quickly.

"Max," Rose barked worriedly. "What are you doing?"

"I've always wanted one," he smiled.

"What'll it be?" The woman held out a tray of cartilage hoops. Max pointed at the smallest of the lot which was jet black.

"Alright, hold still," she said, loading the ring into a machine like she was cocking a gun. "I'm gonna count to three," she said as she positioned the gun to his upper cartilage like a stapler. "One-" *click*.

Max jumped as a blast of pain shot through his ear, then subsided.

"Done," the woman smiled, chewing her smack still.

Rose, Scorpius, and Al had their hands over their mouths in horror.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Uh, no thanks," he mumbled, holding the bead of metal now implanted into his ear.

"What did it feel like?" Scorpius asked as they left the shop.

Max thought. "It wasn't as bad as I thought," he replied, then smiled. "But I don't think they know how little a sickle is. You still want to go to the pub, Al?"

"No, thanks," he replied. "I don't really trust muggles anymore, not these muggles anyway."

Max looked at Rose's watch; they had just enough time visit the record shop before they headed toward the subdivision that Max's neighbor had told him about. They stopped to stare down the street. The sky was growing dark, filled with navy blue clouds. The orange lights of the house fronts illuminated Halloween decorations such as sheets hanging from a tree, bones sticking up out of the ground, and fuzzy spiders blocking the porch. Many children ran around the street holding jack-o-lantern buckets while dressed like, pirates, princesses, tigers, and zombies.

Al, Rose, and Scorpius's eyes were wide with unseen wonder as they watched the kids collect free candy from each and every house.

"And you told me not to stand in the road," said Scorpius gesturing to the children running across the pavement.

"This is the only day of the year that it's okay to play in the streets, as long as it's not super busy," Max clarified.

"Muggle rules are rather misleading," Scorpius thought allowed.

Max smiled to himself because they had no idea how right that statement was. He took Rose's wrist to read her watch. "I think this is a good time," he thought allowed. "Go ahead and take your sacks."

"Okay," Max stopped before the first house. It was large, clearly owned by wealthy people, with cobwebs hanging from the doorframe and plastic ghosts dangling from a small crabapple tree. "Watch how I do this, then follow suit."

He stepped up to the red door and rang the bell which echoed inside. A plump woman dressed in a big black dress, tall pointy hat, green face paint, and an artificial nose answered the door.

"Hello, dears," she smiled, clutching a jack-o-lantern full to the brim of sweets.

"Trick or treat!" Max called.

As though it were magic, the woman dropped a handful of candy into Max's bag without hesitation. She then turned to the other three and waited. Rose, Scorpius, and Al looked awestruck.

"Just say it," Max whispered from the corner of his mouth.

"Trick or treat!" the three called.

The woman laughed and dropped candy into their bags as well.

"Rather new to this, aren't you?" she asked.

"It's their first-time trick or treating," Max replied. The other three were gazing into their sacks as the colorful array of food in their bags. "Come on," he took Scorpius around the arm and pushed everyone down the steps.

"It's magic!" said Al.

"Of course it's not," Max smiled at his friend's faces.

"What else would make muggles give strange kids candy in the middle of the night?" Al reasoned. "Trick or treat must be a spell, like impirio! It makes muggles do what you want!"

"That's not even close," Max tried, but the others weren't listening.

"This is such a huge neighborhood!" Rose said excitedly. "I bet I can finish the strip before you two make it to the neighbors!"

"Yeah right!" Scorpius laughed, and the three of them took off running to the following houses.

"Guys wait!" Max called, but it was no use. "Uh, okay! Just, don't touch anything, or say anything! Guys?"

And the night went on like that. Rose, Al, and Scor running until their heart's content and Max chasing after them like an angry goose. This was not how the evening was supposed to go. It became much more complicated when Rose got in an argument with a know-it-all muggle kid who thought he knew it all about wizards and witchcraft. Rose beamed with success when he couldn't answer her simple Arithmancy test questions but became infuriated when he tried to point her out as a fraud who knew nothing about the art of spells. Max caught her hand reaching for her wand and had to physically carry her away as her dad came out and she attempted to swing at the nerd.

Though half way through the neighborhood, he was tired and sweaty from chasing them, he didn't regret bringing them here. His plan had worked. He had successfully made Rose forget, just for tonight, that she was angry with him, with her cousin, and with Scorpius. And he had finally gotten Al and Scor to raise their heads from books and papers to remember that there was still a sky to marvel at instead of whatever they were hunting.

"Hey, guys," Max said, finding his friends taking a break against a haybale near a mailbox.

"Scorpius," Rose scorned. "You can't eat your candy yet! We have to save room for dinner."

"We missed dinner," said Max, plopping himself down on the hay as well, being more exhausted than any of them.

"What?" said Rose in surprise. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I did," Max yawned. "When you guys were bobbing for poison apples, but I think you may have had a bit of water in your ears. Anyway, it's eleven-thirty-six. We've missed dinner, dessert, the show, and our nice warm beds."

The boys groaned and fell backward, but Rose was staring at Max. she had been so caught up in this new, strange event that she hadn't realized how much they had taken out of him. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was a mess, and he was absentmindedly playing with his new earing which she still couldn't believe he had gotten.

"I think we should head back now," said Rose, standing up and hoisting her candy bag over her shoulder.

"What do you mean 'head back'?" asked Al. "We're only halfway done!"

"Our bags are full," she reasoned.

"We have pockets," Scorpius shrugged.

"We're done," she said more sternly on Max's behalf who looked extremely excited that his night as the responsible adult could possibly be over.

After a bit of arguing, Rose won, as she nearly always did because of her persistence. They decided to find the train tracks and take them back to Hogsmeade station, the muggle town being much creepier in the dark where freaky people lurked and probably wouldn't hesitate in kidnapping four young children alone on Halloween night. This also prevented them from having to take that hike through the woods. Getting back into Honeyduke's cellar for the tunnel wasn't _hard_ but they did set off the alarm and had to sprint through their secrets passageway. But the worst part of it all was having to sneak back through the castle a one o'clock in the morning. Filtch always roamed the halls on Halloween because of the constant mischief that occurred. They crept around corners, ducked under desks, and tried to pick up their candy as they made a trail when they ran. But as for Rose and Max, they made it safely to their common room. Exhausted and hungry, the two kids collapse on the sofa. The house elves had already cleaned the Halloween party wreck.

"Thank you, Max," Rose breathed. "For doing all that for us."

She turned to see why he wasn't responding only to find him fast asleep over the arm of the couch, his mouth open, and fully dressed. Rose smiled and threw a blanket over him before wishing him a Happy Halloween and heading to her bed where she would lock up her candy in case Cromwell came snooping.


	16. The Beast Attacks

Max yawned and stretched his arms to shake off the grip of sleep. It had been two weeks since their trip to the muggle village, but as he feared but had expected, everything went back to the way it was. Scorpius and Al stopped showing up for breakfast, Astronomy, and Library sessions, and Rose remembered that she was angry with them, though her sour attitude was less toward Max now.

The weather outside the castle had become cold and bitter. Leaves nearly all lay pressed against the pavement to be stomped on under foot. Students wore hats, and scarfs, and gloves, and nobody enjoyed the freezing Herbology lessons in greenhouse three. At least Professor Neville used to light a fire so that inside was toasty and warm.

Rose talked less and studied more. She was less energetic, less enthusiastic, and she always had her nose in a book. This wasn't a good sign. Though her marks were fantastic and only getting better, Max knew that she hated studying, and she was spending an awful lot of time doing something she hated. It was as though she was trying to avoid doing something she hated more.

Quidditch practice wasn't even there to occupy her thoughts. After the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, where Hufflepuff spectacularly won, Quidditch matches were closed until after the Holidays. Everyone, especially the Gryffindor team, became very sick after each bitter cold practice. And though Madam Pomfrey could cure a sniffle in a second, she swore that it wasn't healthy to be constantly switching back and forth; your immune system will forget what it normal for it. This early end of practice meant that picnic in the stands was over until after the Holidays too. That was the only time Scorpius and Al bothered to show up.

"Hey, Rose?" Max said in the common room after dinner and during their now extensive study time. They weren't even studying together anymore; it was just at the same time.

"Hm?" Rose hummed in response without looking up over _Magic for the Mundane._

"How about a game of wizard's chess?" he asked, anything to get her away from her mountain of school and remember that she has a life.

"Hm?" she said again, still without looking up.

Max shut his copy of _1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi_ that was open over his lap, but he was not reading. He reached across the couch and pulled Rose's book down. The fire from around the room dilated her pupils, and she blinked the light from her eyes as she emerged into the real world.

"Wizard's chess?" he repeated. "Exploding snap, poker, go fish, charades I don't care! You need to stop with school!"

"But I have a lot of work to do," she assured him as the last other Gryffindor made their way up to bed.

"No, you don't," Max tried. "You've rewritten that Charms paper four times already! You're just stalling!"

"Every time I finish I find something that I should add," she shrugged.

"Then add a sticky note!" Max smiled, taking the book from her hands. "Come on, play wizard's chess with me."

Rose thought for a moment. Her brown eyes were red with exhaustion, and she had more ink on her hands than visible skin.

"I," she started. "I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired." Rose stood slowly and took her book back from Max's arms. "Sorry," she said. "Maybe another time." And she retreated to the girl's dormitories.

Max considered running after her, but what would that accomplish? He slumped back against the sofa, truly miserable, and rubbed his eyes. He was ready for this year to be over. He crossed his fingers that after the Holidays everything would be okay again. Rose would go home with Al and the rest of her family and have one of her perfect Christmases, make it up with Al, and burn her books. He really missed his friends. Halloween was one day he saw them, and he almost wished he hadn't, he had almost forgotten how much he cared about them; it would have been easier to forget if they never showed back up.

Max stared at the fire blazing behind the grate, but turned away when he remembered what had happened last time. It was times when he was alone and depressed that he thought about how Will must feel, alone with an abusive psycho mother. Will used to be so free, couldn't hold him down. He was wild and fun, adventurous and had a massive imagination. He was sarcastic and funny; he always could cheer Max up, and he sang, always sang. That brother he had seen in Elvinshire last year, that wasn't Will. Max thought about what his life would be like if Belladonna had taken him instead. Well, he would probably be dead. Then he thought about Will and why he hadn't alerted anyone of his being at Hogwarts over his week as a spy. Max now believed it to be true that he had been imperioed. A curse which causes its victim to do just as the caster wants. He hoped that was the case. Max fiddled with his earing as he thought. He hated when his mind wondered and wanted a distraction to take his mind off his brother, and one came, though, this distraction was not what he had been hoping for.

Rose had just run back down the stairs looking angry again; sure it was better than her being silent and emotionless, but still… an angry Rose was never good. She was already dressed in her night clothes but was standing above Max with her arms crossed and frizzy red hair behind her ears.

"Max," she started. "I'm sick of miscommunicating, so I'm going to be very straight with you." Max didn't like where this was going. He sat up straighter and already started trying to think of ways around the truth that wouldn't be lies. "I know Alcor has a secret, and I know it's about a beast of some sort, and I know you're in on it! That's all fine and dandy, what I want to know is why you three have your own special little pact, and I'm left in the dirt? Do you guys not think I can't help? That I'm unneeded? I don't want to be _that_ person, but I feel neglected and unwanted, and it hurts me, Max! It hurts that Al is keeping this secrets from me. It hurts that Scorpius is in on it. It hurts that they tell you behind my back, but it hurts more than anything else that you would not only keep the information from me or pretend that you don't know anything, but that you would go out of your way to lie to me about it! I thought you trusted me. I thought I could trust you." With the words 'trust' escaping her lips and the sincere tone she said it in, Max had to force back a tear as he fully understood. "I have been fighting with myself to not say anything for over a month now," she continued. "I saw you in the library talking, but I wasn't going to say anything. I saw them show you that duck print and when I asked about it you pretended that you had never seen it! I saw them talking to you in the gardens. I see you guys whispering in the stands, I know why you wanted me to look into James and Tyler's secrets, I know you're hiding something from me. What I don't know is why… why Max?" She stopped and waited, trying to hold back tears as she let everything she had been holding in for over a month, out.

Her voice was so sad and so hurt that Max couldn't possibly lie to her anymore, not when remembering how badly lying had hurt either. But he couldn't betray Scorbus either; they had trusted him. Regaining trust with one friend would be breaking it with the other, putting him back on square one. He was in a crossroad between Death Valley and rockslide canyon. He was the middle child between two sibling's fight. He looked into Rose's eyes as they pleaded with him for truth.

He took a deep breath. "Rose, I'm going to be completely honest with you, and you'll know if I'm lying. I can't tell you."

There was a moment that passed where no words were spoken.

Max elaborated. "I promised Al that I wouldn't tell you, and I have to keep that promise, you know that, trust. What they're hiding, it's fascinating and most likely dangerous, and it's a really big deal, they've even cut me from the loop. Rose, they didn't want you to know because of what happened last year with Belladonna, you almost died, and the boys wanted you to relax this year. It was a stupid plan that I knew would fail considering you're observant and…" he decided not to say sensitive. "I had agreed to their terms at the beginning of the year. I hadn't been thinking, it was foolish, but I can't take it back. Rose, I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you. But I can't tell you."

Rose's eyes were filled with tears, and she stared at Max's sorry expression feeling betrayed and crushed. Without a word, she skirted up the stairs to hide her sobs; she didn't want him seeing.

Max sat in silence as he pondered the conversation. He hadn't meant to hurt her, and yet this moment of truth crushed her far more than keeping a discreet secret had. He was pissed, to say the least. He had been thrown into this. It wasn't his secret, it wasn't his problem, yet he was what this whole situation sat on top of. Max stood to stride the length of the room. This whole thing was stupid! The beast is probably something like a goldfish that Scorbus it tending to. Max's eyes began to water and burn. He was lying to himself. Max leaned against the window. Watching the sky was the only thing that calmed him when he was angry, except maybe Rose but there was little chance of her coming to help. Even the sky was enraged it seemed. Clouds swirled the canvas above. The only light to be seen was two pinpricks of blue light in the distance, moving quickly to the lake. This caught Max's attention at once, and with closer inspection, there was no mistaking Scorpius' tall stride and Al's messy black hair.

Anger filled Max's chest again as he decided something probably stupid. Grabbing his robe from the back of the sofa, he slung it over his shoulders and made for the exit of the common room.

"Where do you think you're going?" barked the fat lady sleepily. He ignored her.

Max strode through dark corridors but not in need of light; he had memorized the way to the first landing long ago. To his mild surprise, Filtch wasn't anywhere about, nor were his grandcats. He turned down a staircase on the first floor and found himself standing before a large bowl of fruit. He was surprised at first to find himself there; he had hardly remembered walking. Reaching out to tickle the painted pair so that it wiggled and giggled and turned into a doorknob, Max pushed it open and started through the kitchens where very few house elves remained cleaning dishes.

"Everard?" squeaked a familiar voice.

Max turned to find Yoman the house elf hurrying forward with soapy hands.

"That is being the fourth time I is calling you sir," said the elf. "Why is you down here so late at night?"

"Have you seen Al and Scorpius?" he asked.

"I is frightened of telling you that," he replied. "You don't seem happy." The elf pointed to the top of Max's head where a mound of curls sat red.

"Have you seen them or not?"

"I is sir; I is seeing them near the lake. Sneaking, they were."

"Yoman," said Max, trying to remain calm. "I need you to talk to Rose."

"About what, sir?"

"I don't know. Just talk to her, she needs that, but just don't mention me, or Al, or Scor. Will you do that for me, Yoman?"

"I is to be doing it sir, but why is Miss. Weasley not with you?"

"It's a long story that you will not bring up to her. I have to go." Max turned away and stomped up a wooden staircase which led to a pumpkin juicery, then out through the enchanted gardens, then through a hidden door and onto the Hogwarts grounds.

Max tried to steady his breathing. He was going to talk to those boys, but he didn't want to yell; he hated his voice when it was raised. But he had had enough of all this crap. If those boys weren't going to tell Rose the truth and were going to ruin her second year at Hogwarts, he was going to make them. It wasn't fair that she had to suffer. It wasn't fair that he had to be in the middle of it all. She was alone in her dormitory crying right now, and it was because of them. Worse still, it was because of them that she was hurt through him, _he_ hurt her, _he_ made her cry, and it made him sick. Someone who you care so much about that, you would put yourself in harm's way for, someone who you want to protect from douchebag boys who will crush her, and he ends up being the douchebag boy…

Max was now walking beside the lake. The balls of light that had been glowing from Al and Scor's wand tip through the window had gone out, and Max couldn't see anything.

"Albus! Scor!" he called. To hell with detention, if detention were the price to set things right, then it would be well worth it. "Albus Potter! You get your butt over here!" Now he sounded like his dad.

Something stirred beside him, and he pulled his wand from his robe pocket to illuminate ripples on the lake's surface. He waited uncomfortably until they subsided.

"Albus!" he called again, becoming more infuriated. "I know you hear me! If you don't show yourself in five seconds, I'm going to…" he tried to quickly think of a threat that was scary but not a lie. "I'm going to tell Rose! Albus?"

Suddenly, a blast of freezing water splashed up over his back from the lake and something cold and almost slimy wrapped its arms around his waist and neck and drug him across the sand with tremendous force. Max yelped in fear as the giant squid drug him into the icy November water and lower until ripples of the water's surface were all he could see above.

But think again if you thought Max to be a quitter. He swung his wand about and yelled a curse he had learned from his mother, but only bubbles escaped his mouth and water entered his throat. So, he did the next best thing. Max jabbed his elbow backward and made contact with something hard causing the grip around him to slacken enough for him to yank it away. Turned in the water, he saw something that made him forget for a moment that he was fifty feet below and drowning. A tail swung around and hit him hard in the stomach, knocking what breath he had left out of him. It was not the squid. The thing had a face that was black due to lack of light. But it had hands, bony, cold hands, but still. The beast grabbed Max around the throat, but because of the lack of oxygen he had left in his lungs, he was too weak to swing at the creature again. He watched the water above and wondered if this was how he was going to die. Well, it wouldn't be all bad. He would go down in Hogwarts history, and maybe he would turn up as a ghost to haunts the lake. Two blurs broke the water surface in the distance and grew slowly larger as they became closer. And Max blacked out.

Something was rising in his throat, and Max sat up abruptly to couch up water from his lungs. He was freezing and rigged, and he wasn't so sure he hadn't just been dead. Looking around quickly to figure out where he was, he found that he was sitting in the sand, he was soaked from head to socks, and Albus was on his hands and knees gagging as Scorpius hurried to Max's aid; both boys were soaking wet also.

"Are you alright?" Scorpius called.

"Wh-" he tried, slowly pushing Scor away as he regained himself. "What just happened?"

"Al just saved your life," said Scor looking pleased, but Albus looked revolted.

Max, who was custom to muggle resuscitation maneuvers, covered his mouth in disgust. "You didn't!" he begged.

Al looked at Max with regret and both twelve-year-old boys wiped their mouth and said "eewwww…"

After the initial shock was over, Max stood up suddenly and pointed to the lake.

"We have to get away!" he called. "There's a monster who tried to kill me!"

"Max," Al said slowly, standing up and pushing Max closer to the lake. "She's not a monster." He pointed to the lake weeds where yellow eyes glowed like that of a cat from the depths of the weeds. "It's okay," Al cooed in a tone so sweet it was almost unnerving. "You can come out."

"Don't," something squeaked from the weeds which rustled as the voice sounded.

"Why not?" Al asked sweetly.

"Not smile," it squeaked again.

"No, he's- he's angry, but we won't let him hurt you."

Max was shouting on the inside of Al's audacity to comfort the monster who had tried to kill him and making it out to sound as though Max was the monster. But he was so enthralled by what was going to happen that he didn't dare interrupt it.

"Come on, trust me."

Slowly, the weeds shook more aggressively as a grinding sound reached Max's pointed ears. A shadow was dragging itself on its belly through the shallow water's edge. Then, like a statue erupting from the ground, the beast lifted itself onto its arms and laid in the sand proudly.

Max fell backward with shock. He was looking at a person through Scorpius' wand light. But, it wasn't completely a person, or better, it wasn't human. It had a tail, a long fishes tail. The thing had pale green skin, shiny and wet, and it had hair that, though out of water, gave the illusion that it was still submerged and hanging in its face. Max grew closer slightly. The beast glared at him with its yellow eyes.

"It's-" Max stuttered. "It's a merperson."

"A mermaid," Scorpius corrected.

Al was on his knees and handing the mermaid a small sack which she opened to reveal sweets and food. The mermaid pushed the food into her mouth with her long fingers as she ate. Max noticed that the mermaid didn't have jagged and broken teeth like the other pictures he had seen in school books and she had to be young. And Max just noticed that she was wearing one of Al's Mimbleton Duke's t-shirts.

Max was at a loss of what to do, to say, how to breathe. "Al?" he decided.

"Hm?" Albus mumbled from the ground. He was watching her with unshakable interest.

"We can't be this close to a mermaid! Remember what Professor Dalbert said? The chief is extremely possessive of his people. If he found out that we were conversing with it-"

"Don't call her an 'it'!" Al turned away from the girl at last and shouted. "Her name's Harenam." Heranam looked at Al offendedly. "But we call her Stella," he corrected. "Stella because she likes the stars, Max."

"When?" Max started, but Scorpius answered his unfinished question.

"We found her watching us through our window early in the semester. Show us your hand, Stella!"

Stella looked up confusedly.

"Your hand," Scorpius clarified, pointing at his own palm. Stella showed him her hand in which her fingers were laced together with webbing. "Like that duck print. Remember? It was her hand."

"She can understand you?" Max asked, not taking his eyes from Stella.

"She already knew a little English before we met her. Apparently, she had been reading from Al's school books that he always keeps open on the window seal since last year."

"And the writing in the sand?"

"Well, she recognized Al's name from his school papers when Al said allowed it on the shore during his detention and she had seen us when we sleep in our dormitory. She had been looking at the stars when Al came out, and the writing was her way of saying hi; she was still scared to show herself. But we finally met her, and we're trying to teach her English. But, like a parrot, her throat isn't equipped to make certain noises, so we've hit a couple of road blocks. But we did teach her the alphabet in sign language to help with the harder words; she's catching on real fast! But she can't sign back real well because of the webbing between her fingers… Anything else?"

"Yeah," Max thought. "Why is she wearing one of Al's t-shirts?"

Scorpius suddenly became awkward. "Oh, well, when we first met, she wasn't wearing a top of any sort, so that was the first thing to change."

"One more thing," said Max, suddenly remembering a very important and recent detail. "Why did she try to kill me?!"

"Because you threatened her!" Al said, standing up and joining the conversation.

"No, I didn't!" Max protested. "I didn't even know she existed!"

"Well you threatened me, so she was just trying to protect me!"

"And what if you guys hadn't been there to pull me back? Huh?" Max asked, becoming angry as the initial shock was wearing off but no doubt still there. "I would have been a limp body floating across the water to be discovered by some first year in the morning as they came out to play. _'Let's go skip stones! Ooh, what's that? Aahhh!_ '" he acted.

Al looked grim suddenly. "I'm sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You could have really been hurt; I need to teach her that it's not okay to drown people."

"Al! you need to let her go!"

"No way! You know how much work we've put into this!"

"She's not just some pet that you can train to be your companion! She's a being who doesn't need to change who she is to fit your standards!"

"I know this is a lot to take in and is hard to understand," Al started more calmly. "It took Scorpius a lot of convincing and I don't have the time to convince you right now. But she is my friend, not my pet. Come on, at least meet her. She likes Astronomy, Max. And she likes maple syrup, and music, and keeping her hair messy; she's a lot like you. Just go say hi."

"Al," said Max calmly. "She. Tried. To. Murder. Me. I don't think you understand that."

"Please," Al pleaded with his big green eyes.

Max rolled his before slowly and awkwardly shuffling closer. Al took Max by the arm and forced him into the sand in from of Stella who glared at Max evilly.

"Stella?" said Al. The mermaid's eyes lit up as she stared at him, then darkened when seeing that Al was holding Max's arm.

"Bad," she said in a higher pitch voice, pointing at Max. "Bad man."

"No, no Stella. This is our friend; this is Max. Remember Max I told you about him. I said you two would meet one day."

"Mass?" she asked.

"Yes, Max. She can't say the 'x' sound yet," he added from the corner of his mouth.

Stella unexpectedly grinned with surprisingly straight teeth and lunged at Max who was thrown backward as Stella gripped him around the waist again, but this time in a hug.

"Okay, Stella," said Al, gently ripping her from him. Scorpius had joined them in the sand. "Max isn't really a _'touchy'_ guy."

"Mass!" she repeated, then frowned, looking horrified. "I drown!" she said, pointing to herself, then to Max, then to the water, then to Al to had to revive him.

"Yes, and you won't do it again," said Al. "To anyone… Except maybe a bulldog girl named Poppy who had black hair and a huge man jaw and…" he stopped at Stella's confused face.

Max was staring that the girl closely now. Her wet green hair was straight and hung in her eyes which were almond shaped and rather large. She had a roundish face and a pointed chin. Her skin across her cheek was scarred with slits, and she had little in the way of a nose. She could only be around twelve herself. But, for a mermaid perhaps, you could consider her beautiful.

"Why isn't her teeth broken?" Max whispered.

"Other merpeople's teeth are only broken because they smash them with rocks, this makes them look more frightening and makes tearing into their prey easier. But she doesn't want to be…" Al froze as though he had said something that he hadn't meant to. "Scary," he finished, though Max didn't think that that was what he was about to say. "She doesn't want to be scary."

"Why haven't you guys been at Astronomy? Or Breakfast?"

"It's the only time we can see her," said Scorpius who was playing with his shoelace. "Nobody is outside during the morning because they're all eating, nobody is outside at night because it's forbidden, so we teach her then, and sometimes we bring her little treats for learning so well."

"And you say she's not your pet?"

"She isn't!" Al snapped.

"How have you guys been getting to and from the castle without getting caught?"

"We found a secret passage way," Scorpius started. "From the mouth of the serpent head above our mantel to the broom shed."

"Guys…" Max said slowly on a more serious note. "We have to tell Rose; you know that."

"No!" said Al quickly and hurrying to his feet. "We can't tell her! She'll freak out! We've been doing so good so far!"

"You've been doing good so far?" said Max, standing slowly to his feet and looking angry again as his hair turned back to red and Al slowly became worried. "You guys have done a truly horrific job at keeping a secret from Rose! You're tearing her apart! She's crushed that you're keeping secrets and you've officially broken her trust, and you better believe that it's going to take a whole lot more than an apology and the truth to regain it." Scorpius was looking extremely sorry, but Al was staring at the ground. "She thought you guys were close, Al. She thought you two were the best of friends. Twelve years you've known each other, and she's replaced the moment you meet something more interesting! She is angry, and hurt, and torn apart but only I would know that because only I am EVER BLOODY THERE! You have no idea what you're doing to her because you've cut yourself from her life completely! You don't show up for Astronomy! You don't show up for studying! You hardly show up for picnic in the stands and guess what? Those were her favorite times of day! You wanna know why? Because she was with you, Al! She was with her friends! What does that mean now? Friends? Rose been replaced!"

"No, she hasn't!" Al said, looking up at last with puffy eyes.

"No?" Max became furious. "Where do you spend most of your time? What do you spend your time thinking about? What is your friend group now, Al? Is she even in it? Am I even in it? Because, not counting Halloween, you two haven't spoken like you even know each other! You don't know her anymore! She got top marks in potions Tuesday, and the first thing she wanted to do was run to you, then she remembered, you weren't there! She's mastered disarming in Defense Against the Dark Arts, did you know that? She has blisters from the beaters bat, she recently cut her hair, she climbed down the throat of a Grumpet stem to retrieve her Herbology book, and she finally spotted her first moon through my telescope, did you know any of that? She freaking got salmonella last week, and I was a one holding her hair back! Me! I'm not even family! I'm just her friend! I bet you didn't even know that either did you! Our pact is broken! Our team is split! All she wants, all I want is to have us all back to the way we were! Avoiding Poppy and the Salazar's, complaining after Professor Binns classes, listening to you both rant about how easy your favorite subject is and sharing rumors about James and Tyler's secret. Oh, I forgot, you wouldn't know. James and Tyler have called a bullcrap talking strike and are communicating by sign language, and they have some mysterious thing under their tongue. With you guy's help, we would have had that mystery solved. But here we are, after hours, in the freezing cold and soaked to the bone as I yell at you about something that should never have been an issue in the first place. I'm asking you where your priorities should lie! Now tell me, Al, _where do_ your priorities lie?"

Rose laid on her bed late at night. She rubbed her eyes clear of tears and continued. "But I shouldn't be angry. He was only holding true to a promise. Am I a terrible friend for being upset that he's not breaking it?"

"I isn't thinking Miss to be a terrible friend," said Yoman, sitting at the bottom of Rose's four poster bed and folding her clothes. "I is thinking that you has been hurt, I is thinking that it isn't your fault. But I also is thinking that it isn't Mr. Everard's fault either. I is thinking that Miss should talk to Everard and not lose another friend. Friends do not have a price worthy of them and Miss had already lost two green boys. I is thinking that Miss isn't to be losing her purple boy too. But I is only thinking," he finished not only his sentence but also finished folding all of her clothes.

Rose hugged the elf who seemed surprised. "Thank you Yoman for coming up here. But, why did you come up here?"

"Your purple boy is sending me," he replied. "He is knowing you is sad and you being sad is making him be sad. He wished me to come make you happy."

Rose's eyes filled with tears once more as she tore from her dormitory and down the girl's staircase. She had to see him. The only friend she had left it seemed.

"Max!" she called before entering the common room. "Max, I'm sorry. I know you can't break a promise and you shouldn't! I don't want to go to bed angry! Can't we just-" but she froze at what met her.

Max was standing in the middle of the common room shivering, soaking wet, covered in sand, and tassel-haired. What surprised Rose most, though, was the two Slytherin boys that stood behind Max in the Gryffindor common room looking the same.

"Rose," said Al. "We have a lot to tell you."


	17. Sugamina

Rose was sitting on the Gryffindor sofa with her head between her knees. She had just been given impossible news and thought she was going to faint. Not only about the fact that one of her best friends and her cousin had been training and feeding a mermaid after hours every single night, but how dangerous it was; also, that Max had stormed through the front door during forbidden hours to bring her the truth; needless to say, he was forgiven.

She listened as Al continued in his extremely long story, with assistance from Scorpius who was helping with the nastier parts that Al was intentionally leaving out. The sneaking from the broom shed, the stealing food, the feeding a mermaid, and the teaching her English. How they hadn't been caught yet was beyond Rose. She had been right in thinking them to be clever boys.

All of Professor Dalbert's warning against conversing with merpeople was swimming through her head. His warnings about their aggressive nature, about their manipulative ways to get what they want, about the chief and his possession of his people, and about their pride causing them to kill humans who have provoked them. The number of times they could have died was phenomenal. She decided to mention this at last.

"Boys," she started, sitting us purposefully and realizing that her throat was horse. "You could have been killed. Several times and nobody would know."

Max was leaning against the crimson tapestry beside the stairwell. He had been staring at his feet through the whole story, listening with his arms crossed. He nodded slightly in agreement after Rose's statement.

"Actually," Scorpius started slowly with a wary look at Al who was shaking his head a fraction in warning. "No more secrets, Al. Olivia knows."

"Olivia Merik!" Rose asked furiously. She liked Olivia well enough but was appalled that they would tell Oliva before they would tell her. "Why would you tell her? If it got to her brothers, they can't keep a secret any more than they can hold water in their hands! It would've traveled through school faster than if Filtch died!"

"We didn't tell her," said Al. "She has your habit of waltzing into boy's dormitories whenever she wants without knocking. She caught us teaching Stella how to say my name correctly."

"And she was okay?"

"Well, it took Scorpius freezing her and two hours of boring conversations and questions to keep her from running out," Al continued. "But she's been a big help! Covered for us when we're late for classes and saved our butts a handful of times."

"Why are you three wet?" Rose asked.

Scorpius and Al glanced at Max for a moment. Max thought before looking up to smile. "She tried to hug me, got me soaked…"

"What's this all for?" Rose asked slowly. "What happens after you teach her English and what not?"

There was another silence that was so long it became awkward. Scorpius bowed his head, and Al took it upon himself to break the silence.

"No more secrets?" said Al.

"Please, Al. It's the only way to fix this," Rose pleaded, leaning forward toward the two Slytherin boys who were sitting on the coffee table with their heads down. Scorpius started popping his knuckles as he always did during tests or when he was uncomfortable.

"We trying something that has never been attempted by a wizard before. And… and we know what James and Tyler are hiding too."

Was this Christmas early? Or was Rose really about to put her conscious to rest after months?

"It's… I'm… We haven't yet- still trying. It's crazy-" Al was stumbling over his words.

Scorpius leaned forward and took one of Max quills from the couch and wrote a single word over one of Rose's voided Charms papers. Without a word, he handed it to Rose and bowed his head again. Rose read the word on the paper.

' _Sugamina_ '

Her brain whirled again as she tried to riddle out the word that had been driving her insane.

"Use a mirror," Scorpius mumbled.

Rose gripped the paper and decided to play their game. She stood to her feet and took two strides before Scorpius caught her arm.

"What you're about to read – you can't stop us," he was more severe than Rose had ever heard him before. "You can't stop us. We don't want you to try, and we don't want you to be another bump in the road. We need you to trust us on this."

Rose stood in silence as Max watched the scene with his head down. She didn't know what to say. What could be on this slip of paper that was so bad? She had already made up her mind about helping them with Stella. If that was what he was talking about her stopping, he had nothing to worry about. But the way he spoke… it wasn't just Stella.

"I trust you," she lied.

Scorpius released her arm, and she continued to the mirrored candle plate atop the mantle. Rose shoved the melted candle stub away and lifted the paper to the plate. The word, the scrambled bit of nonsense, Sugamina, stared back at her in perfect understanding.

Sugamina was reflected backward to spell quite simply, Animagus.

Rose spun around on her toes with the paper in her fist. An Animagus, a nearly impossible bit of magic which allows a witch or wizard to become an animal at will. But Al wouldn't do that! Nor would Scorpius! The goody-two-shoes Slytherin boys who obey the rules and respect their teachers? They wouldn't try such a piece of magic so complex that often leaves the attempter in half animal form... forever! A bit of magic so dangerous that can kill! A bit of magic that takes years to achieve and which is illegal without being registered with a permit and papers! Surely, they wouldn't!

"But-" she croaked. What could she say? "You're becoming animagi? But this illegal! You can be sent to Azkaban!"

"That's not the secret…" Al mumbled.

 _There can't possibly be something worse, more serious. Please, Merlin let them be playing a cruel joke on me!_ Rose thought.

"There is a reason it's spelled backward, Rose. It's backward because we're doing a reverse Animagus."

"Reverse?" Rose asked perplexed. "But you're not-" she froze as her hands slowly reached her mouth. "You're not…"

"That's what she wants!" Al tried frantically. "She doesn't like it down there! She's treated wrongly! She wants to be a part of us!"

Rose sat back down, speechless. Max, however, was just getting started. "You're trying to turn her into a human?" he shouted.

Scorpius tried to shush Max in case the sleeping Gryffindors wake up to find two Slytherins in their house.

"Don't you shush me!" Max called. He had peeled himself from the wall and was standing above them. "What happened to not trying to change who she is to fit your standards? This is the one thing you could do that would change her completely!"

"But this is what she wants?" Al fought.

"She's a child! She doesn't know what she wants yet!"

"But," Scorpius interjected. "If she's an Animagus, she can switch back and forth between mermaid and human!"

"What then? What happens if you somehow succeed in this process? She's not a wizard! She can't attend Hogwarts!"

"She'll still live in the lake," said Al. "She'll be a human so that she can further understand our ways. She's fascinated by everything human. She'll be able to speak proper English, she can dance, and sing, and she wants to learn to play wizards chess. She intends to be an Astronomer, she has big dream, and she wants a job, wizard or not."

Max sat on the couch beside Rose. He was at a loss of what to say. His argument seemed so justified that he didn't understand why Scorbus was still fighting for their opinion.

"It's not against the law, Max," Rose spoke at last. This impossible situation was intriguing, to say the least. She was confused about how to feel. She could almost literally hear her mom inside of her fussing about the lunacy of this idea and books and laws and rules were flying by her brain, reminding her how dangerous this was and how much could go wrong, including jail time. Her father inside of her was bouncing with the tease of adventure. If they were to succeed, they would make history though not recorded in books. They would be the first ever to achieve reverse Animagus. Her Gryffindor lion in her soul was roaring. This would take courage; this would take daring, nerve, boldness, and brains. This was an opportunity of a lifetime to understand more about the art of Transfiguration than any school age student would. Minerva McGonagall had never even dared try, maybe because she thought it was too absurd. Absurdity…? Intriguing.

"Rose…? ROSE!"

Rose snapped out of her thought to see Max staring incredulously at her.

"You're smiling… Why are you smiling?"

Sha hadn't noticed the grin now apparent across her face. "I'm smiling because it's impossible," she whispered. "I'm smiling because we're going to achieve the impossible."

Albus and Scorpius grinned broader than ever, knowing their argument to be won. Max was staring dumbstruck at the lot of them, but mostly at Rose.

"You're mad," he whispered. "The lot of you! What happens if this goes wrong? If you doom Stella to a life as a freak half human? What if she loses her ability to breathe under water but is still a mermaid? What if the chief finds out? He'll kill you! He'll report an attack on his Stella and you two, no, we all would go to Azkaban… That's what you guys meant outside the hospital, isn't it?" The boys looked confused for a moment. "The day Rose and I were both hospitalized, I overheard you guys talking about the beast. You said you two would go to Azkaban for kidnap and experimentation. You know the danger, don't even act like you don't!"

"Max," Rose tried, standing to her feet at last. "We would make history! We would take Transfiguration further than it has ever been before!"

Max shook his head slowly. "Why must you three be so selfish? It's all about you, isn't it? Rose wants to make history; Al wants a girlfriend, Scorpius wants to be accepted, don't you? What about Stella? What's best for her?"

"You act as though you know!" Al burst. "You've only just met her! You know nothing about her! She's our friend! We would do anything for her! You don't understand how she feels. She's left out, alone, shunned. She's the least favorite because she's different! She is abused, and she's scared. She feels as though she can only be who she is while with us! You don't understand!"

Max scowled slightly and seemed to be trying to keep his calm. "You think I don't understand abuse?" he muttered.

Al's face turned white suddenly as he realized his mistake.

"I didn't mean that!" he said quickly. "I didn't mean you don't understand!"

"Really? Because you said it twice." He looked at Rose who remained silent. "Why am I suddenly the logical one of the group? Me, the one who has had thirteen detentions. This is Rose's job."

"Are you going to try'n stop us?" Scorpius spoke.

There was a long silence as the three held their breath for their fate.

"No," Max whispered. "I care more about my friends than to do that."

"But you're not going to help us?" Rose asked.

Max stared right into her brown eyes. "I never said that… We're a package deal guys and like it or not if one of us has a quest, then it's all our quest. If one of us has a problem, then it is all our problem. If one of us is ransomed, then we all are ransomed. If one of us dooms himself to death, then the other will jump into death with him…"

Rose's eyes filled with joy in that moment where the long sense broken pact was being mended before her eyes. Albus and Scor stood to their feet at last, and Rose embraced them. She reached out and held Max's sleeve. This was his kind of hugging. The act of embracing as a sign of affection was foreign to him until he came to Hogwarts and met Rose. Rose sighed against Scorpius' robe. She had missed them so much. She had missed her cousins' embrace; she had missed his messy hair. She had missed Scorpius' sometimes overpowering and far to grown up cologne.

The pact broke, and Rose tried to conceal a tear of joy. Al and Scorpius looked around the room now.

"It's just as dad described," said Al. He threw himself into one of the cushy armchairs by the fire. "It's like I'm in a dream."

"It kind of hurts my eyes," said Scorpius, who was backing away from the realistic lion pacing back and forth in its canvas, staring at him with hungry eyes. "Everything's so red."

"Do you want a tour?" asked Rose, becoming excited.

"It's just one room," said Al, not think there to be much to show.

"Come on!" Rose exclaimed. "This is the sofa where Max usually sleeps and where I do my homework." She walked to the window. "This is where we sneak out to do Astronomy. This is the table where I always lose at chess. So how far have you guys gotten in the process of Sugamina?" she asked, still looking around to find things to show.

"We're doing okay," said Al. "I've been researching in Transfiguration books and Scorpius has been doing the breaking down and deciphering."

"That's the bathroom," said Rose, pointing. "What have you learned?"

"It's not impossible," said Scorpius, becoming distracted with the items on Hugo's muggle table. "We read about a wizard called Gramond the Geezer who accidentally turned his rabbit's ear into a human hand. So, you can turn animal parts into human parts; we're just trying a step further. Everything has to be done backward. Like holding a mandrake leave under your tongue for a month, it has to be held at the top of your tongue at a full moon from the end of a month to the beginning of the next."

"But isn't that the same as holding the leave from the beginning of a month to the need of the next?" Max asked.

"I know," said Scor. "The process is extensive, unforgiving, and ridiculous at times."

"That's kind of gross," said Rose, thinking about the mandrake leave. "They smell awful as it is, and how are you supposed to talk when you have-" Rose froze, finally realizing the answer to the recent questions. "Guys!" she exclaimed. "You said you knew James and Tyler's secret! I know!"

"They're trying to become Animagi," said Al obviously.

Rose frowned. "I wanted to say it… That's funny," she thought. "I'm not all that surprised."

"Why?" asked Al. "Because you'd expect something like this from James?"

"No, I think it's because it's an insignificant feat compared to his little brother trying to reverse a mermaid from a creature to a human."

"James can't find out," Al smiled. "If he finds that I beat him in wit, he'll be furious. He always feels as though he has to one-up me all the time."

"Max?" They heard a boy's voice say from the staircase. They turned quickly to find Hugo walking forward in his Star Wars pajamas, tasseled red curls, and rubbing his eye annoyedly. "Will you please keep it down? You know I'm a light sleeper, and all I can hear is-" he stopped when opening his eyes completely and seeing Albus and Scor staring guiltily at him after having just been caught. It took a moment before Hugo groaned. "Ugh, never mind." And he retreated up the staircase.

"Anyway," Rose started. "What's the first step?"

"Well," Albus replied. "The first step of reverse would be the last step of original, but we haven't gotten far enough to know what the final step in becoming an Animagus is."

"What if she becomes an animal of some sort?" asked Max. "Who says she'd become a human?"

"The magic of the Animagi process clings onto the closest species to you besides what you currently are," Scorpius started, looking excited. "Because humans are 100% human, Animagus magic attaches to your spirit animal. That's why your potronus usually ends up being your Animagus form. But Stella, she's part human; it's in her DNA. See, merpeople are curious creatures. Every couple hundred years, a merperson must mate with a human, wizard or not. They will have part human part merperson babies, and so begins the next generation. That's why merpeople look half human half fish. If merpeople never mated with humans, they would end up continuing to devolve into fish, into beasts who don't have a developed brain. Stella has human DNA, therefore, Animagus magic – animagic – will attach to that bit and she will become human."

"You guys really looked into it," said Rose, impressed with how quickly he was able to spit out an answer.

"We want to get this right," said Scor. "We don't want to hurt her."

Rose thought for a moment. "So, that's you and Scor, me and Max, and Olivia. That's all right? Nobody else knows?"

Al looked guilty for a moment. "Watson may have an idea," he said. "I let something slip during practice. I had forgotten that he was sitting behind us with a broken rib and not in the air. But he had stayed quiet do far."

"We don't have to worry about Watson," said Max. "He's a good guy, and I don't think he'll rat you guys out. But, I believe that it would be a smart idea for you two to head back to your common room now before you're caught here or missed there."

"How are we supposed to get back to our common room from up here without getting caught?" Al asked.

Rose was disappointed that their tour was cut short but was forced to think of a way that the boys wouldn't get into trouble. She suddenly remembered a solution that would also be a perfect tour end.

"They can use the secret passageway!" she blurted out excitedly.

"I hope you're talking about some means of transportation from the girl's dorms or another passage I don't know about," said Max. "Because they're not taking-"

"The mantel tunnel!" she grinned.

"Rosie, you know we can't get in. We're not having another Moonacher incident with Scorbus," Max rolled his eyes.

"What did you just call us?" Al laughed.

"Yeah Rosebud," said Scorpius who hadn't noticed his name mash. "It's dangerous."

"And they can't navigate the tunnels," said Max.

"Actually, we can," said Scor. "Al and I have explored those tunnels weeks ago…"

Rose felt a tiny spark of hurt again that she had missed such an event because of the stupid rift. She shook her shoulders to extinguish the spark; not again. She was not starting anything again; the embers were dying, and she loved it.

"Well," she thought. "I don't see another way." She didn't try hard to find another either. "Can't I at least show you guys how it works? If we just stay away from the booby trap."

Max looked very hesitant. Last year, he had been shot in the face with a potion called Moonacher which was put as a boobytrap over the secret entrance in the stone behind the tapestry of a roaring lion above the mantelpiece to keep students out. Max had turned blue and would have very well either fallen into an enchanted sleep or died if it weren't for his extraordinary healing powers. The memory of the fear and sickness was obviously still substantial in his memory made apparent by the face he was giving Rose, a face of caution.

"It's alright," said Al coolly. "We know the answer to the riddle. You told us the question last year, remember? Eldric Kemps's middle name is Goofbi. Go on and open it!" Al rubbed his hands together as his mother's side showed rather heavily tonight it seemed. Rose loved when his mom came out to play.

Max frowned, but reluctantly slid a redwood cushioned chair before the mantel. He stood and pulled away the tapestry to reveal nothing but a mundane stone wall.

"You do realize that the question could have been changed?" Max warned.

"Oh, come on," Al grinned. "Aren't you a Gryffindor?"

"I'm not worried about myself right now," Max scowled. He grimaced before punching a small stone on the bottom right-hand corner causing a nail to clink forth from nowhere. He took hold of the pin but stopped. "And you're sure his middle name is Goofbi?"

"We've looked it up, come on!" Al cried. Scorpius stood aside worriedly.

"Al," Scorpius said cautiously. "I don't think-"

"Open it already!" Al barked.

Max quickly pushed the nail back into the stone and waited. Like nails on a chalkboard, words were being carved into the rock.

' _What is Eldric Kemp's middle name?_ ' they read.

"I knew it!" Al said triumphantly. This was a mistake. The words he uttered wasn't the answer.

A foul smelling blue liquid shot forth from the stone wall blasting Al in the face.

Rose's cousin fell backward onto the shag rug and tried desperately to wipe the poison from his eyes. Rose's throat swelled. Was this her fault? She rushed to his side immediately, but Max was already helping him to his feet.

Al spit directly onto the floor.

"Goofbi! Goofbi, Goofbi, Goofbi!" Rose turned to see Scorpius repeating the correct answer to their question. The stone slid aside, and Scorpius practically dove into the tunnel.

"Where are you going?" Rose barked. He wasn't going to bed now, surely.

"Al has the antidote!" he called back in a worried tone that echoed thickly through the passage.

"Oh Al, I'm so sorry!" she cried over her cousin again.

"We're cool," he said weakly. "We're good. I have the antidote." He tried to sit up straight but toppled back over where Max had to catch him. Al looked confusedly at Max. "Did you feel this way last year?" he asked. "You weren't this weak, you couldn't have been."

"Healing powers, remember? My body was fighting it," Maddox replied, trying to set Al on the sofa but Albus was fighting to stand up.

"I have to get to the hospital wing," he mumbled. "That's where Scorpius will meet me."

"Okay," said Rose with a worried look at Max. "Come on." She took him under the arms and began toward the door.

"No, no, no," Al shoved her off. "You can't come."

"We can't let you go alone!" said Rose.

"If we're caught, all three of us will get in trouble."

"Not if we're helping you to the hospital wing," Rose argued.

"No, Rosie, what he's saying is that it would look suspicious if we're with him because that would mean that he wandered from his dormitory to come all the way to break into the Gryffindor common room to get us. Or what they'll likely think is that we were already wandering the castle together. But if Al goes by himself, it wouldn't look suspicious because teachers would assume that he came straight from Slytherin to the hospital wing," Max finished quickly.

"Actually, I just figured that you'd get in trouble also for being out of bed, but that was an excellent point, Max, we're going with that. Excuse me." Al was lead to the portrait hole and struggled to climb through, exhausted and weak.

Max and Rose watched him until he was out of sight to be sure that he didn't collapse on the way.

"Was that a Slytherin boy?" asked the fat lady who they had forgotten was watching too. Max absentmindedly covered the painting's mouth. The fat lady looked around his hand. "You do realize that doesn't affect me at all?"

The two pulled away from the portrait hole and shut the door. Rose sat cross-legged on the shag carpet with her red-haired head in her hands. "You can go ahead, I can take it," she mumbled.

Max sat quietly on the floor across from her. "Say what?"

"That you were right and I was wrong," she hurried. "That I should have listened. That you told me so."

"When have I ever shoved something; you have done back in your face? Why do you think I would be the kind of person to do that?" he asked quietly.

He was right of course, which only made her feel worse.

"But I don't understand," she blurted frantically. "You were fine! You were blasted last year and was still completely healthy! You slept through the night, and we had double potions and everything! You weren't sick until right before the Moonacher's enchanted sleep overtook you! Why is Al so weak right away?"

"Because he's more mortal than I am," Max replied. "This stupid stolen potion in my blood and bones is only growing stronger. I don't feel pain two minutes after I'm inflicted."

"This is my fault, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

"You want reassurance that it isn't," said Max, knowing her too well already. "It's nobody's fault really. You insisted, Al was eager, I opened the tunnel, Al muttered the wrong answer, and Scorpius…" he stopped to think of a way Scorpius could take any responsibility. "He didn't stop us. So really, if it's somewhat everybody's fault, then it really isn't anybody's fault. I'm sure you'll find a way to pin this on yourself, though, people normally do."

"He'll be fine…" Rose thought allowed.

"Of course, he will," said Max obviously. "This is Al we're talking about. He's put himself in death's way every night and morning to tame a mermaid, come on. He won't be brought down my Moonacher." There was a small silence as Rose felt truly terrible and more than half considered bursting from the portrait hole after her cousin.

The truth was, Al had been her best friend since birth. She was only a few months older than he was and they experienced their first everything together. From infancy, they had competed against each other at everything. So, when Rose first stood, Al, did too. When Al first spoke, Rose, did too. When Rose first learned to whistle… Al actually couldn't whistle which was something Rose teased him about. But somehow, despite being best friends since birth, they had replaced each other in only a year and a half. Max was Rose's best friend, Scorpius was Al's. And it was okay.

Rose suspected that if they had both been placed in Gryffindor, they would still be best friends. She probably never would have gotten to know Max, and Max would have died the previous year if it weren't for their pact.

Rose glanced around at the portrait hole. "Scor still has the mirror," said Max. "We can call him."

Rose had forgotten about the enchanted two-way hand mirrors that both she and Al owned. She hadn't used it to talk to the Slytherin boys all year. She had also forgotten that it was Scorpius who carried the second mirror around though it belonged to Al. Albus had a bad habit of breaking delicate items or losing them. Rose highly doubted that Scorpius still had it on his person. He wouldn't have carried such a heavy item around during their beef, but she didn't find why not to try.

In less than two minutes, Rose had snatched the hand mirror from her dorm and now sat back on the floor, though the sofas and chairs were unoccupied, and waited with the buzzing metal in her hand as the call was sent to Scorpius to answer.

The mirror continued to buzz for three minutes longer. Rose looked at Max disappointedly. Scorpius didn't have it. She was just getting ready to suggest bed when the item stopped vibrating which only meant that it had been answered. Rose jumped in excitement and peered into the now nonreflecting face. Only black stretched across the face. She thought at first that the enchanted mirror had broken until Max silenced her almost spoken conclusions. She listened. A faint sound of heavy breathing was audible including the sound of scuffling.

"He must have accidentally swiped the screen," Max mouthed.

"Ow!" they heard a voice echoed. "Bloody house elves." It was Scorpius.

They listened from the inside of his pocket as Scorpius traveled the tunnels. "Where's my wand?" they heard him mutter as he stopped to lumos a light from his wand tip and continued. They could now see a faint blue light through the thin pocket and had a beautiful view of Scorpius' knee and hand swinging in a and out of frame as he crawled. "I think it's this way," he muttered to himself. Rose watched as her friend traveled and she wondered whether this was at all creepy of them to be watching unsuspectedly. They heard Scorpius curse quietly as something slammed loudly against the stone of the tunnel wall. "I always forget about the stupid slide." The picture shifted as they were now staring straight forward from Scor's pocket. He was on the first floor. Scorpius was breathing heavier as he stared around.

A loud hiss was heard from Scor's feet, and he glanced downward to discover Neil, another of Filtch's grandcats. The think curved its back and hissed again.

"Petrificus totalus!" Scorpius whispered, aiming his wand at the nuisance. Neil immediately became stiff and motionless, allowing Scor to grab it by its tail and toss it into the tunnel he had just emerged from. "Three down, six to go," Scor said in a pleased tone.

He bent low to the floor and slapped the stone twice. The echo carried through the first floor. Rose and Max stared at each other perplexedly as they waited also. Scorpius didn't move until two more loud echoing slaps reached his ears from a distant part of the castle.

"Gotcha," Scor whispered triumphantly before dashing toward the second sound.

Their picture swayed as Scor ran to find his friend on all fours just before the grand staircase.

"And you thought having codes wouldn't help," Scor said, lifting Al.

"How did Max do this, seriously!" Al breathed as he struggled to stand.

Max grinned for a moment. "You have super powers, remember? Don't go getting cocky," Rose whispered.

"Did you hear something?" Al asked suddenly.

Rose covered her mouth. "We'd better hurry; I think I heard voices."

They watched as Scorpius practically carried Al across the whole of the first floor until he could lay his friend on a white linen cot in the hospital wing. Scorpius slapped a bell beside Madam Pomfrey's office door. The bell swung back and forth, but no noise issued from the thing.

"You better take this fast," said Scorpius, handing Al something that Rose and Max could not see but would only assume was the antidote.

"Thanks," Al muttered before gagging loudly. "This stuff is revolting! Tastes like dead fish!"

"You've had a lot of experience with eating dead fish, have you?" Scorpius smirked.

Rose suddenly remembered something crucial and decided to make herself known. "Albus!" she called.

"Holy mother of Merlin!" they heard Scorpius shout in fear as he fell to the ground.

"In your pocket," she called.

Like slipping glasses over your nose, the world became clear as the mirror was lifted from Scor's pocket.

"Hey!" Scorpius called delightedly.

Rose was not delighted. "Al! Is that the same antidote we gave to Max? It's poison! You forgot to add the Rockshood, remember?"

"Calm down," Al assured her. "I went back and made a new batch."

"Why would you need to make a new batch?" Rose asked perplexed.

"I'm a potioneer," he rolled his eyes which had turned the bright blue of the Moonacher. "I have most of the essential antidotes in my dorm."

"Madam Pomfrey is coming," Scor hurried. "We have to go."

"I'm sorry Al!" Rose called quickly before Scor hung up.

"Hakuna Matata," Al smiled back.

"A Kuna- what?" Rose blinked.

"It's a motto," said Max. "See? Al will be all right."

"We're still sneaking out in the early hours of the morning to check on him," said Rose matter-a-factly.

"I figured we would," Max groaned, standing to his feet. He held out his hands to help her up. "This has been an interesting night."

Rose grinned from ear to ear remembering everything that they had learned, discovered, and broken in the short hour Slytherin visit. "It's done Max!" she grinned. "No more secrets!"

She hugged him around the middle which always took him by surprise though she did this often. His hugs were always awkward, unnatural.

"Thank you," she muttered into his shirt.

He roped his arms around her also. "Anytime," he smiled.


	18. Vladimir's Father

The first snow fall of the winter arrived later than usual. The lake froze over; ice-skaters were thick over its scratched and powdered surface. Students built forts and played snowball and flew for recreation over the Quidditch pitch. However, this jolly bit of fun was not shared amongst the four friends. Due to the lake freezing overnight, Max and Rose were unable to meet Stella. Scorpius and Al still spoke with the mermaid through their large paneled window about the recent happenings.

The option of sneaking into the Slytherin dorms to meet their new friend was too dangerous. Though the other three common rooms were practically empty due to their residents taking advantage of the weather, Slytherin housed the largest variety of introverts who don't like sun or sky, or laughter and who stay locked up where it's safe and they're alone. Slytherins also happen to be night owls who stay up far too late into the night, so sneaking in through the tunnel that lead out the mouth of the mantel serpent was suicide; Slytherins don't hold their tongue, especially if they have an opportunity to rat out a Gryffindor. Sneaking in the morning was less risky due to the house residents habit to over sleep, but many fall asleep on the sofas and wake to the slightest noise; they were also known for their vigilance.

Rose, Max, Scorpius, and Al sat in the library after their very last class before the Holidays and grazed dusty books of transfiguration phenomenon's. Scorpius was flipping enthusiastically through the stories; every feat of transfiguration was incredible to him. Al was all too focused during these new sessions. Rose tried to decipher meanings behind clear sentences. And the faint growling behind Max's books told them that he had fallen asleep again. He tried extremely hard to focus and help, but this subject was his least favorite next to History of Magic. Even the story of Paul the Pathetic turning his own head into a moose permanently during his failed attempt at illegal animagi didn't amuse him. It was stories such as these that brought his face to a pale porridge in fear of something similar happening to Stella or his friends.

What they did learn was what the fifth step in Animagus transformation was and that transfiguration in itself was the most dangerous type of magic there was. This only made Rose more excited about their future success.

"You lot need to get outside more often," The group peeled their eyes from their studies and gazed at Illya Vizzini who had stopped leaving the library with his group of friends to speak to the second years.

Max didn't know this Hufflepuff hardly at all and though Illya had never done anything to provoke him personally, Max didn't like when he was around and he didn't know why.

"Just a little brain food," said Al, holding up his books.

"It's not going to snow every day, you know?" said Illya, making his way slowly back to his group of friends waiting for him. "But we're heading to recreational Quidditch. Kernnal has a bet going for who'll win. You should play Rose, I wouldn't mind seeing him put his money where his mouth is." He winked before departing.

Max rolled his eyes and turned to Rose who was staring after Illya, blushing crimson. Max wasn't completely daft. "Rose," he rolled his eyes again. "He's sixth year." Rose didn't seem to even hear him. She looked back at her book with cheeks as red as her hair and a smile across her face. Why did this make him angry?

Scorpius closed his book at last which usually meant that they were all done for the day. Rose had been captain during study sessions, Scor was captain when the subject was transfiguration.

"So," Scor started, propping his feet upon the library table. "What's you plan for the Holidays?"

"Obviously, Al and I are heading home!" Rose said enthusiastically.

"Same," Scor shrugged. "But we're having to spend Christmas day with the grandparents. It sucks. Usually we only see them on New Year but now that I'm getting older, Grandma says she wants to see me before I move out."

"Both of your Grandparents?" Rose asked.

"No!" Al answered amusedly. "Both families getting together at one time? That would be a disaster!" Scorpius laughed uncomfortably at the thought.

"What about you Max?"

Maddox had been hoping that the question wouldn't turn to him. "I'm going back to dad's," he replied. The thought of spending Christmas with Bailey and his dad was terrible especially after experiencing a Potter-Weasley family Christmas. That Christmas, last Christmas had been the best of his life. Max didn't know that family could like each other and get along. He didn't know that laughter and stories were a normal part of Christmas. He didn't know that people could make you feel so welcome and warm inside. He would do anything to be spending this Holiday with the Potter-Weasley family, with Albus, with Rose. But, he had to screw up. He had to nearly kill one of their kids. He had to be so stupid and small minded and drag the first person he cared about into a fireplace, into Elvinshire, into the hand of his lunatic mother, and into the hospital; it was no wonder he hadn't been invited this year.

His next option would be to stay at Hogwarts with people he liked, like some of the Professors, but if he did not get on and off the train with Rose, Al, and Scor, he was sure he would be re-invited to the Weasley-Potter family Christmas, bringing tension, discomfort, and awkwardness with him. He wasn't going to do that. He would have to spend it with his dad.

Rose narrowed her eyebrows as she didn't believe that he would prefer it. "Come to think of it," Max started to prevent his friends from asking any question that would require him to lie. "I need to pack." He stood up from the table and left his friends watching him as he left and didn't look back.

"Good evening Everard," Professor Dalbert nodded in passing.

Max nodded back as he jumped onto a staircase that had just decided to move. He walked through a couple tapestries, jumped over a step that had a yellow stone, and climbed through the portrait hole to pack for the Holidays that everyone would be leaving for the following morning. Max kept a somber face and tried not to have any emotions toward the prospect. If he really thought about how his Holiday was going to play out, he would become quite depressed.

Max took a breath before pushing his dormitory door open and entering. He took his book bag from his shoulder, dumped it onto his perfectly made bed that he had been forced to do all his life, and began shoving random clothes from his dresser and floor into the small bag.

"Just now packing?" Calvert asked from his usual spot on the wood floor against his bed with his sketch book in hand.

"Don't judge my methods," Max mumbled. He really didn't give Calvert much attention; he was a bit of a nosy nuisance.

"I haven't even started yet," Calvert mumbled also without looking up from his drawing. "I'm nearly finished with scene thirteen."

Max didn't bother to glance at the notepad. He wasn't very close or interested in any of his roommates. Calvert never shut up, Micah was all too busy with his crafts to socialize, and Daniel and Benjamin were always too busy arguing over missing combs or shampoo.

He sat on his four-poster bed, realizing that he had nothing left to pack. Instead, he took from under his pillow a small box cutter and began emphasizing his name across one of his bottom posters with what he could only assume were the carvings of names belonging to residents of other generations.

"You look awfully depressed," said Micah, looking up from his clay monster for the first time in six hours. He often had a habit of noticing that which others whished he wouldn't. "Where's Rose? I thought you guys cleared up whatever was bothering you two."

"She's in the library with Scorbus," he replied indifferently.

"Weird to see you two apart though," Micah thought. "So, you two _aren't_ a thing, right? Like, she's not dating anyone?"

Max dropped his box cutter and gave Micah his trademark 'stop talking' face that rarely worked on this kid. It was common knowledge in this room that Micah fancied Rose. He thought her red hair and freckles gave her a nerdy vibe and she had given the false impression that she was an art enthusiast. Micah has had a crush on her since last Halloween and wouldn't stop pelting Max with questions concerning his dearest friend.

"I just think she would be able to experience more if she hung out with me more often. I mean, she doesn't get away from your friend group to experience the world," said Micah.

"So, you, as a twelve-year-old boy, will show her the world?" asked Max annoyedly. "She's not interested anyway, she likes this Vizzini guy."

Micah dropped his clay tools and stare at Max angrily. "Who?" he asked indignity.

"Illya Vizzini," Max repeated, laying back on his bed and twirling his purple curls around his fingers. "He's this Hufflepuff beater that is apparently very popular and blarney and could get any girl he wants but for some reason seems to have pegged Rosie making her blush and giggle when he's around; it's really quite sickening."

Micah was sitting up scowling. "I've never heard of this Hufflepuff," he crossed his arms.

"Yes, you have," Max yawned. "He's the one who is always asking people if they've seen a girl named Aubrey."

Micah furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Oh, that guy? Why would she like him? He's so… blond and… uh,"

"You can't think of anything bad about him?" said Max. "Yeah, neither can I."

"But he's much too old!"

"That doesn't mean she can't think he's appealing," said Max.

"If anything, I would think that she liked you," Micah thought, finally gathering up his tools. "She's always hanging onto your arm and laughs at everything you say; you're not even funny. You're always playing with her hair and she always has her legs over your lap when you guys are reading."

Max remained silent for a moment. "We're just friends," he said quietly, staring at the ceiling above.

Maddox turned when hearing Calvert give a small snort of laughter. They hadn't noticed him watching their conversation.

"What?" Max asked.

Calvert smirked. "You guys are such girls."

Scorpius sat alone at the Slytherin table for Breakfast. He chose a seat on the opposite side that Poppy was in fear that his food would be poisoned. It had been a long night. He and Al had been trying to explain why they would be gone to Stella through their dormitory window. She had thrown a fit and still couldn't understand the concept of Christmas. Scorpius liked Stella, she was intriguing and curious and she was very kind if you were sad, but right now, he was a bit pleased to be away from her. Since that day, he and Al had first seen her staring at them through the window, she is what has consumed every drop of their time. In their thoughts, from their mouths, from Al's mouth mostly. His best friend would talk of nothing but the mermaid. Scorpius agreed that she is priority, but after a while, the topic of Stella began to become tiresome; he regularly checked his hair for gray streaks now.

Scorpius was hit in the back as Al sat beside him. Albus looked exhausted though it was only morning. He removed his new glasses to rub at his eyes. Al had been wearing glasses since the night Moonacher sprayed in his eyes. The potion was easy enough to remove given that they had the antidote, but it was during the last inspection of the incident that Madam Pomfrey found Al's eyes to be extremely weak. Scorpius had wondered why Al always held books so close to his nose when reading. Apparently, he has had bad vision most of his life and hadn't realized it. She gave him options of spectacles to choose from before conjuring his choice from midair to now be worn when reading, while in class, or when he wanted to see the world clearly.

Al chose square glasses like his grandfather's instead of round like his dad's despite how much Madam Pomfrey begged, saying that it would be ironic and adorable.

"Where's the Gryffindors?" Al asked, peering toward the Gryffindor table for their friends.

"Rose insisted in helping Max pack for the Holidays," Scorpius replied through a mouthful of waffles. "You know Max isn't looking forward to Christmas, but Rosebud thinks that if she helps him pick out the proper clothes, or teach him a few carols, or give him a few recipes then he will have his own little Potter-Weasley Christmas."

Al snorted slightly. "It's not what you do over Christmas that makes it great, it's the people you're with."

"I know that," said Scorpius. "And so does Rosebud, she's just really trying."

"I wish he could spend Christmas with us again," Al thought. "Him and you both. It was a lot of fun."

"But you know why he can't?"

"Of course I do. My parents don't mind, it's Rose's that's uncomfortable now. You know, since Belladonna, Max has been a sensitive subject," Al replied.

"You would think that her parents would understand," Scor thought. "Like this is exactly what happened in their years with Harry Potter. The amount of times you've told me they've almost been killed for their friend; Rose is only following in their footsteps."

"It's different coming from a parent's point of view," said Al. "It says what goes around comes around. They're now realizing how much stress and fear they put on their parents back then. It's not just them though, Max could come. If he simply asked, everyone would say yes. It's the discomfort that would come with his being there that's making him not go. He's being considerate therefore his Holiday is ruined."

"Gryffindors," Scorpius shook his head.

Something heavy slammed into Scorpius' back again causing him to spill milk down his front. Olivia propped her head on Scor's hair to catch her breath. She often had a habit of getting into a run and not being able to stop unless she caught herself on something larger; Scorpius was usually her stopping point and her abrupt visits against him was nothing unusual.

"What's the deal?" Al asked.

"She's not listening," Olivia gasped. "She still doesn't want you to leave and now she's trying to break the glass."

"I really thought girl talk would work," Al sighed. "Scor, would you?"

"But she likes you best," Scorpius moaned.

"We leave for home in a half hour and I just spent three and a half down there, it's your turn."

Scorpius rolled his eyes and stood up from the table. Olivia took a bagel and followed. "This is starting to feel a whole lot more like babysitting than science," Scorpius grumbled.

"If it isn't the blood traitor and squib's sister!" Poppy called as they passed her leaf of the table. "How about trying to- hph!"

Olivia had just thrown her bagel at Poppy and took off running with Scorpius' hand in hers, laughing.

" _Cunning_ ," Scorpius yawned when standing before the stone wall of the Slytherin dormitory.

The wall slid aside to invite them. The common room was emptier than normal; most students were already at breakfast or were last minute packing. Scorpius shuffled down his stairs and Olivia skipped behind him, not giving a second thought about heading to the boy's dormitories; she and Rose had this in common. Scorpius kicked aside Quin's newspapers and knocked on the long unwater window showing one and a half feet of under-sand roots and approximately five feet of mucky green lake water.

What could have been mistaken as seaweed flowed into sight. Stella's hair always met the eye first as her large green eye peeked inward at whom was summoning her. Stella's face poked into view. She slowly wandered out with her arms crossed and her lips pouty.

"Stella, we have to go," Scorpius signed. "We need to see our families."

Stella scowled in the opposite direction. Scorpius rapt on the glass again to get her attention. "I'm not Al," he signed. "I won't baby you. We're leaving, but we'll be back. You need to trust us to do that."

 _'_ _forget'_

Stella signed. "We won't forget," Scorpius signed back. "Albus never stops talking about you, I swear. He won't shut up about you therefore it will be impossible for him to forget."

Stella grinned broadly at this. "I'm leaving," Scorpius signed. He placed his long-fingered hand against the glass and waited for her to do the same as a sign of goodbye.

Stella finally swam away. "Hey guys," Olivia and Scor spun around as Ethan Holac waltz in. "I forgot my- what's that!" he called in wonder. Ethan zipped to the window and pressed his face against the glass. "That's a mermaid!" he called. "I knew it! I knew we had mermaids in the black lake! Did you see it? Oh, I can't wait to tell Alac!"

"Obliviate!" Ethan was blasted in the back of the head before Olivia tucked her wand back into her robe pocket. "Yeah Ethan," she mumbled. "You've know there were mermaids in the black lake six times already." She and Scor left the room with Ethan still rubbing at his newly erased mind.

"You really need to learn that spell," she told Scorpius. "that way, you two won't have to keep running to me every time you need someone obliviated." Scorpius didn't respond. "You did well," Olivia said. "With Stella. You really know how to talk to girls."

"It's easier when you don't have to use words," said Scor.

"I was wondering," he stumbled suddenly. "I mean, Al, he's acting different."

"I hardly think I need to tell you why," he said.

"No, I know. It's just, he used to act different around me at least. He used to smile more, at me."

"Yeah, he liked you at one point, I don't know if he still does," Scorpius said casually. "But now there's only one girl in his life. He's obsessed with Stella, I would almost say he's addicted. I don't think it's healthy."

"He liked me?" Olivia gasped.

"It was kinda painfully obvious."

"Why did he though?"

"Well," Scorpius thought. "You're pretty, and brave, and you stand up for what and who you believe in." Olivia smiled sheepishly. "All sought out attributes in a girl. But I don't think Al fancies you anymore because he's gotten to know you." Olivia's smile dropped. "Not that you have a bad personality or anything, but most guys like girls until they're used to them. Considering Al is now comfortable around you, that says that he's no longer trying to impress you, which means he no longer fancies you."

There was a silence only broken by their footfalls against the stone passageways. "You're right," Olivia raised her eyebrow. "You really aren't good at talking to girls."

Scorpius had just stepped into the freezing winter air as nine tenths of the school made their way to the carriages passed the yard that would bring them to Hogsmeade station and back home. Al had bundled his face in his green and silver wool scarf to keep the breeze from burning him. Scorpius would have done the same if Olivia wasn't holding onto the slack of his scarf and using it to cover her own face. He hadn't gotten to know this girl until a couple months ago, but it seemed she adapted quickly. She was considered part of their friend group though clearly being the third wheel on the Dale. Though Scorpius strongly speculated that she had a mild crush on his friend, she always hung close to, or better yet, onto his person. The three of them climbed into the thestral drawn carriage and waited until it took off.

"Hphfoosenthehmm," Al mumbled.

"What?" said Scor.

Albus pulled his scarf away from his mouth. "Have you seen Roax?"

"Who?"

"It's Max and Rose, I thought it would be clever," Al replied.

"I would have gone with Mose," said Scor.

"…No."

"I haven't seen them, they're probably ahead," Scor replied.

He tried to adjust his robe but it had been pulled tight over Olivia who was asleep under it. Scorpius gaped at her. He may have woken her up and gathered his robe if he was unaware how late she had stayed up the night before, helping them research for Stella. He let her sleep and tried to conceal shivers.

The carriage came to a holt as the three of them hopped out. Scor squinted through the thick crowd to find perhaps a mound of indigo curls belonging to Max, or maybe a heap of red frizz belonging to Rose. Something cold gripped his hand and he was led, well, dragged through the crowd and onto the train. Olivia didn't stop running until she swung him into the back compartment.

"Why do you always do that?" Scor asked, ripping his hand from hers.

"Do what?" she smiled.

"Drag me places, I can walk,"

"It's better to run. Besides, you're too slow."

"Well excuse me is I like to stop and smell the flowers," Scorpius crossed his arms.

"Hyperion, the people who stop and smell the flowers end up missing their seat and are forced to share a compartment with Relctory," she said, propping her green rubber boots on the seat opposite.

"What'd you just call me?" Scor asked.

"Hyperion," she replied.

"My mom's the only one who calls me that, when I'm in trouble."

"I like it."

Scorpius was about to ask her to kindly not use his middle name when the compartment door swung open to emit Al.

"You really need to stop running, Olly," he said, taking a seat across from Scor.

"I'm always the first in class and if I wasn't, you two would have been hounded for being late so many times. The teacher's trust me because of my punctuality and it is my punctuality that causes them to believe my bullcrap excuses for you guy's tardiness," she said very fast.

Scor smiled at this logic but frowned again as the train gave a lurch and began puffing away.

"Are they even coming?" said Scor, looking through the compartment window.

"They're on the train," Al assured him. "They were just caught up with the flock."

The trolley lady came by and the three Slytherins bought a series of sweets including two packets of licorice which was Olivia's favorite.

The trolley lady left before Rose and Max finally emerged into their compartment. Max turned his nose up in disgust and searched around until his eyes landed on Olivia and her packs of licorice. Max said nothing about the terrible smell of Hell's sweet and took a seat on the opposite side of Olivia.

"He hates licorice," Scorpius explained to her as she gave Max a quizzical look.

"Oh, well I wouldn't have bought it if I had known you didn't like it so much," she said. "Punctuality."

"Where were you guys?" Al asked.

"Rocky wanted to talk Quidditch," Rose replied, trying to tie her hair in a knot. She could never gather her hair at once and always missed pieces. This was why Max usually ended up doing it for her as he did today.

The ride home seemed extremely long as Al conversed and explained what they had discovered overnight and any new developments in the Sugamina experiment, all of which Scorpius had already heard or learned himself. Rose seemed intrigued, Olivia listened, Max didn't approve still, and Scorpius fell asleep.

It was Max's kick to Scorpius' shin that woke him.

Olivia, Rose, and Albus were fast asleep, slouched in chairs, and Max was adjusting himself to get comfortable.

"Sorry," Max mumbled.

"You're not happy about you're Christmas, are you?" Scorpius asked.

"I'm never happy about my Christmases," Max yawned.

"But it can't be all bad," Scor tried. "You still have your father and you get to go to all these adult parties."

Max opened his eyes. "You've never met my father."

Scorpius said nothing. He understood how Max felt and really wished he could do something about it. He had already ordered Max a Christmas gift which was likely waiting for him at his house to be wrapped and sent to the Everard's, but it wasn't the gifts, it was the people you were surrounded with and if you didn't like the people, you didn't like Christmas.

The train puffed past mountains and rivers to emerge into busy streets and pass buildings. They had entered London and had three minutes until they would see their families at last. Scorpius thought still harder about Max and if there was anything he could do.

"You ready?" Scorpius blinked away thought and was surprised to see all his friends awake and gathering up scarves and coats, getting ready to head home.

"Ready for what?" Scor asked, though he should have known.

The train wheels screeched ear-piercingly and with one last, hardly noticeable lurch, the compartment door swung open and Olivia sprinted out in a blur, Scorpius' hand in hers though he hadn't noticed. He fumbled over his shoes and tried not to fall on his face as he was dragged through the throng, hitting many students and Olly zipped through and flung him out onto the platform to be third to get off the train. Scorpius regained his footing as Olly dusted off her hands triumphantly. Scor looked back to find her, but she had already disappeared to find her family.

"Scorpius!" A warm embrace engulfed him as he breathed in his mother's familiar expensive perfume. He pulled away to see her smiling face beaming down at him. She was quite beautiful. Her chestnut hair was in a neat bun atop her head and her soft features and brown eyes glowed. "Let's go find your father."

He was led away from the train and the crowd by his mother's gentle touch. Suddenly, a not to gentle hand gripped him by the arm and pulled him away from his mother. Albus gripped Scorpius in a 'guy hug'. He was standing with the entire Weasley-Potter family, many of which shook Scorpius' hand and some who clapped him on the back, wishing him a Merry Christmas. His mother's touch met his back again. She smiled at the large family.

"You must be the Weasley-Potter clan," she smiled.

"I'm Astoria," she reached out and shook the entire families hand politely and eloquently with much class and grace. Astoria smiled at Rose and Albus. "Merry Christmas Albus," she said. "Those are new glasses, aren't they? I don't remember you having them last year."

"Yeah," George Weasley finally noticed.

"And you must be Rosebud," Astoria turned to Rose. "I've heard so much about you."

Rose beamed as Astoria turned at last to Max and shook his hand. "Quite a hairstyle you have going there, isn't it?" she smiled. "I have heard all about you, of course. Quite a brave little man."

Scorpius' face was beginning to go slightly hot. His mother made it out to sound as though his friends were all he spoke about. Scor noticed a few of the Weasley-Potter smiles fade and with a grip on his shoulder, he knew why. His father, Draco Malfoy, stood behind him now. Scorpius looked up to see his father's face, solemn and absent of emotion. There was an uncomfortable silence that followed this encounter.

"Albus, Rose, Max," Draco nodded to each. "Pleasant to be meeting you."

Nobody said anything. "I think we should probably head out," Astoria said. "Come on."

Draco nodded politely to Harry Potter and the rest of the surrounding family before guiding Scorpius away from some of the friendliest faces he's ever seen.

"We're apperating today, you ready?" Astoria Malfoy gripped her son's hand and readied to head home.

"Wait?" Scorpius called. "I haven't said goodbye to Olivia!"

"Whose Olivia?" Draco smirked.

"Just a friend."

"Go on."

Scorpius ran from his parents at the ticket booth and searched for three boys who looked exactly alike. These would be the Merik boys. He didn't have to search long. Something gripped his hand and he was pulled through the crowd once again to be thrown before two adults with blond hair and a stout stature.

"These are my parents!" Olivia called.

Oliver, Owen, and Oscar were already standing around their parents along with a boy who looked exactly like the three Merik boys. Scorpius knew this last one was a squib. Olivia looked extremely out of place. She was the only girl of the quince and the only of the whole family with black hair and blue eyes rather than blond with brown. She was really quite exquisite. Scorpius shook Mr. and Mrs. Merik's hand.

"Strong shake," said their father. "Says lot about a man."

"I haven't met you," Scorpius nodded to the squib.

"Onex," he replied, taking Scor's hand. "I'm a writer!" he called.

"Uh, good for you," Scor said unsure.

"I've finished two novels already! I'm waiting for the first to get published! I'm going to be famous one day!"

Scorpius glanced at Olivia who rolled her eyes. "Well then I'll never wash this hand," Scor smiled. He assumed the cocky assurance was Onex's way of letting people know that he wasn't going to fail at life in the Wizarding World just because he had no magic which was actually admirable.

"I have to go," said Scorpius at last. "Merry Christmas," he nodded to the Merik family. "Merry Christmas Olivia," he nodded again before leaving to find Max.

Maddox wasn't difficult to locate. He was standing alone in the middle of the crowd, staring at the exit.

"What are you looking at?" Scor asked, standing beside him.

"The Weasley-Potters just left," he replied.

"What? Augh, second year in a row that I don't get to wish Rosebud a proper Merry Christmas!"

"Vladimir!" Max winced as his least favorite name was shouted from across the station. Quickly, he scrambled for his cartilage piercing to unhook it from his ear before spinning around with the ring in his fist behind his back.

Scorpius watched perplexed at his friend who never reacted so fidgety toward anything. A tall man in a brown hat was striding over detrimentally.

"You come when I call you!" the man barked.

He was tall and lanky with thin blond hair poking from his hat. His had a narrow face and nose and had a small mouth. Max appeared to have inherited none of his father's features.

"Change your hair already, we're in public!" he barked again.

Max seemed to wilt under his father's stare.

"Stop slouching, and put your hands by your side, are you a man or a sloth?" Max sat up straight quickly. "Get to the car, Bailey's waiting."

"But can't I just-?" Max stuttered.

"Stop your stuttering! It sounds as though you can't properly speak, as though I didn't raise you with a good education!"

"Can I?" Max stopped under his father's look. " _May_ I at least say goodbye to-"

"I said Bailey's waiting! Get in the car!" Clent turned and started toward the exit.

Max snarled behind Clent and turned to Scorpius. "Well, Merry-"

"Vladimir!"

"…Christmas," he mumbled and continued away with his head down and hands in his pockets.

Scorpius stared after his friend. He scowled darkly. Why would anyone treat their child like that? Especially after not seeing them for a whole semester! Scorpius stood rooted to the spot, staring after the Everards. Max's hair had turned brown and Clent shoved him toward the brick barrier.

Scorpius' chest filled with rage. _'Oh Hell no!'_

Scor sprinted toward the ticket booth to meet his parents who were waiting patiently.

"I'm inviting a friend for Christmas!" he gasped when stopping before them.

"You're what?" asked Draco confusedly.

"Please!" Scor begged. "He's treated horribly! I can't let him stay with his dad!"

"Scorpius," Astoria said compassionately. "You've always been a very thoughtful boy, but we can't just take someone else's son for Christmas."

"If he says yes?" Scorpius tried. "If his dad agrees, can he come and stay? You know we have plenty of extra room and I would really like to have someone to hang out with while the Grandparents are in."

"What's his blood status?" asked Draco.

"Draco!" Astoria scorned.

"What? If my parents are coming over, it's best not to start up unpleasant conversations regarding a muggle born guest."

"He's…" Scorpius paused to think. "I- I don't know. His mother's pureblood!"

Draco and Astoria looked at each other.

"If his dad agrees," Draco said at last.

Scorpius ran from the ticket booth again in fear that the Everards may have already left.

Scor closed his eyes and he barreled through the brick divider and secret exit from Platform 9 ¾. Scorpius stopped on the other side squint through the mass of muggles traveling home for the Holidays. Scor ran from through and was mildly pleased to find that he was not out of breath. The climbing thirteen staircases a day multiple times a day, Quidditch, and running everywhere with Olivia had paid off.

Scorpius burst from the front doors of King's Cross station, forgetting how cold it was outside. Two silhouettes where growing smaller across the parking lot. Clent's hat wasn't difficult to miss. Scorpius started toward them with all the strength he had. The cold air was piercing his lungs as he ran, trying desperately not to slip across the ice.

"Hold up!" he called. "Hang on!" he gasped again.

After falling once in front of a rather pretty muggle girl bundled in a ping coat with her parents, he was finally within talking distance with his target.

"Oi!" he screamed. He had never used that improper word before. Max turned at last as Scorpius slid to a rather dramatic holt before the two males. From their viewpoint, he probably looked awesome. "Max," he gasped before falling to his knees on the snow. "Let me just, hold on." He sat on the cold ground gasping for air as he clutched a stitch in his chest. So, maybe he wasn't as fit as he had previously thought. "Come. Christmas. With us," he managed.

"What?" Max asked, helping Scorpius to his feet at last.

"My parents said that, if it was okay with your dad, you could spend the Holiday with us."

Max grinned suddenly, but dropped his smile as his dad spoke.

"Whose Max?"

Scorpius scowled slightly in confusion and disbelief. "Uh, I mean Vlad. Anyway, can he come?"

Clent looked confused. "You want to whisk Vladimir away on Christmas. And you expect me to let him go with a complete stranger?"

"If I had expected you to say yes, I wouldn't have asked so politely," Scorpius scowled.

Clent opened his mouth, undoubtedly to tell Scor off, when a loud slam was heard from two vehicles away. A woman with short blonde hair, red lips, a rather large headdress, and smoke issuing from her mouth and pipe stepped forward.

"Hva er dette?" she asked in a language Scorpius didn't understand in the slightest but would only assume was Norwegian.

Max's expression darkened.

"Dette blond gutt er som ønsker å ta Vladimir bort for Holiday. Det er absurd." Clent replied. Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He knew Max spoke Norwegian to his father but he had never heard Max do it nor had he heard the language spoken; it slightly gave him a headache.

Bailey circled around to lean against her fiancé's arm. "Du vet, det kan ikke være så ille å ha Vlad borte," she whispered, stroking Clent's shoulders and leaning over him seducing. "Vi trenger ikke å betale en ekstra innlevering avgift på bronka sin ferie fest. Dessuten ville jeg ikke noe imot å ha hele huset for oss selv. litt alene tid? Uten forstyrrelser? Hvem vet hva som kan skje."

Clent grinned while Max wrinkled his nose is disgust.

"Fine," Clent said to both boys. "I'll see you next summer." Bailey pulled Clent to the car and they sped away without looking back.

Scorpius was utterly at a loss. "So, good?" he asked.

"I can spend Christmas with you," said Max, still staring after his dad.

"Why did that happen?"

"I'm not repeating what she said." Max turned away and smiled. "Thank you, really."

Scorpius clapped Max on the back. "I couldn't let you stay there. Clent seemed awful."

There was a loud 'POP' as Draco and Astoria appeared from thin air before them. Astoria looked around to be sure no one was watching.

"So, you're the young man joining us this year?" she asked Max.

"If you'll have me, I'd be delighted," Max replied, reapplying his earing.

"Of course we'll have you," she smiled. "You know, when I was little, I would gather all my stuffed animals and host parties with tea and cakes and-"

"Astoria, dear," Draco interrupted, gesturing toward the shivering boys.

"Yes, well, have you ever done side along apperition?"

Max shook his head.

"Well it's quite easy, just don't move or open your eyes and count to five before walking after we land. Are you ready?"

She took Max by the hand and with another loud 'POP' they were gone.


	19. Christmas at the Malfoys

'POP'

Max hit solid ground and decided to keep his eyes and mouth shut until the whirling in his stomach and head seized.

"You'll get used to it," said Scorpius, clapping Max on the back.

Maddox felt the cold wind blow against his cheeks and dared open one of his purple eyes to stare at the building he was facing. The house was magnificent. Tall and white with an iron gate and flowers thriving through the snow beside a cobbled stone path leading from the front garden to the blue door wreathed with white roses surrounding a gold knocker. Blue shutters fastened stalwart alongside eight frosty windows where a single candle danced merrily within the warmth of the indoor glass. The chimney puffed soft billows of smoke as snow fell lightly past two orange orbs of light before the front steps illuminating the yard as the sun steadily dwindled into nothing but an orange glow over the mountain view beyond.

"It's magnificent," Max gaped.

"I suppose," Scorpius thought. "You can stand out here and freeze to death all night if you wish to admire the house, but we have hot tea and pie inside."

He hadn't realized how cold he was. Max walked quietly across the stone path vacant of snow as he could swear he heard carolers in the distance. Malfoy Manor was something from a Thomas Kinkaid painting.

"No offense, but I expected your house to be tall and barren of warmth," Max mumbled so Draco and Astoria couldn't hear.

"No, that's the Grandparent's place," Scorpius shrugged, pushing open the blue door. "Kick your shoes off over there, leave your bag on the steps; I'll bring it upstairs later. But, uh, make yourself at home."

The inside was even more spectacular than the front of the house. A giant nine-foot Christmas tree stood tall and eloquently decorated in the drawing room. Garland was strung along the balcony, foyer tables, and doorframes. Candles flickered on table sides, and a magnificent grand piano waited for him in the corner of the lounge. Cellos, violins, and small bells played quietly by themselves in the hall.

"What did you say your dad did again?" Max asked.

"He's a bank owner now. He's opening wizarding banks all over the world," Scorpius replied.

Astoria placed a hot cup of tea in Max's grip and turned to slap Draco's hand as he tried to sneak a cherry from one of the pies.

"Not until dinner," she laughed.

Draco backed away pouty before snatching a cherry from the pie so quickly that you would think he used magic to do it. He popped it in his mouth with a wink at Max.

"Scorpius, why don't you show- what are you doing?" Astoria turned to see Scorpius shove something behind his back. "Show me what you're hiding," she warned.

Scor reluctantly pulled from behind his back three wall frames. Astoria took them. "Why are you taking these down? They're my favorite."

"They're embarrassing," Scorpius whined.

"Oh, you were so cute. Just look at that smile." She faced the photos toward Max who tried to conceal a snigger as a young Scorpius rolled around with a tuft of blonde hair atop his round head and his fingers in his mouth. One photo was of him without any pants.

"MOM!" Scorpius shouted.

"Oh, calm down, it's not that embarrassing, you were just a baby."

"It doesn't mean I have a different butt!"

"Fine, I won't put them back up. Why don't you show Max your room," she suggested and continued to coo at the photos as Scorpius led Max up the stairs, red-faced.

"Moms," Scorpius grumbled. "So embarrassing."

Max wished that he had a mother who would embarrass him by cooing over old baby photos. He didn't even have any baby photos. A series of other young Scorpius pictures lined the hall in elegant frames. A five-year-old Scorpius was grinning over his ice cream cone, his face frosted with sugar. One showed a two-year-old Scorpius sitting on a tiny broomstick. Another was of a ten-year-old Scorpius being hugged by his mother. All photos moved as every picture did in the wizarding world.

"We have two guest bedrooms; you can take your pick," said Scorpius animatedly as he continued to the last room at the end of the hall. "This is my room."

Scorpius' bedroom was immaculately clean. His green bedspread lay still over his four-poster bed without a wrinkle. His bookshelf was alphabetically ordered, and his ceiling was domed. However, his wall was plastered with world maps. He had wall décor of famous architectural landmarks from all over the globe lining his room such as the London Eye, the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, the Eiffel Tower, and the Sistine Chapel. His dresser pull knobs were tiny globes and his window curtains of travel dashes spread open before his large window.

"So," Max said. "You like Geography."

"I want to travel," said Scorpius starry-eyed. "I want to see everything!"

"What is there to see?" Max asked, fiddling with Scorpius' globe.

"Everything," Scor said slightly affronted, turning to Max. "There is so much to be explored! The caves and the canyons, the swamps of Malaysia, the valleys of Ireland, the Volcanos of Iceland! The cities of America, and the pyramids of Egypt! See? I have pegged all the places I plan to visit!"

Scorpius pointed to his largest world map in which the countries were hardly visible through the red push-pins.

"Dad has traveled," he said. "When he was looking for suitable building acreage for the banks, the stories he brings back. You have your head in the stars, Max, but I have little interest in space when there's so much to be discovered here."

He was talking the same way Max did when he was speaking of Astronomy.

The room was growing visibly darker as gas lamps, and table candles struck into life to illuminate the room. Max was about to ask about the many brown paper parcels on Scorpius' desk when a loud pounding against the window interrupted his thought. Scorpius peered through.

"Oh, God," he muttered miserably. He flung open the window letting in a gust of freezing air and snow flurries. "Sod off, Poppy!" Scor called angrily.

"Just thought I'd wish you a terrible Christmas!" she called back in her sarcastic tone.

"If you're going to go through the trouble of throwing things at my house in the cold, you better think of better one-liners!"

"Oh, shut up!" she called.

"But I thought you liked arguing!" Scorpius called down.

Scor had to throw himself back to avoid a snowball that had just been thrown through his window. It broke open on the shag rug to reveal a rock inside.

Max took a deep breath and pulled his wand from his pocket before leaning from the window as well.

"Is there a problem, Poppy?" he asked pleasantly, twirling his wand in his fingers.

Poppy stumbled a fraction in the snow before regaining herself. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it matter?" he asked. "But I suggest you leave; your parents are probably looking for you."

"Are you trying to threaten me?" she barked. "We both know you can't do any of your dark magic voodoo crap outside of school!"

"Are you daring me?" he smirked.

Poppy frowned worriedly and stepped back. "You're so weird, the both of you!" She left their yard.

"You're right," said Max, closing the window. "She is awful at one-liners."

"Every day," Scorpius growled. "Every day I'm home she has to try'n bother me!"

"And think of it, if you had ridden with her on the train, you two could have been twisted friends."

"It's amazing what one small decision can do," said Scor.

Max thought for a moment. There had been many small decisions in life that he loved, and some he regretted. His father's voice floated in his mind from nowhere. He was back on the platform at 9 ¾ Kings Cross a year ago, starting his first year at Hogwarts. His dad leaned down and whispered severely. " _Now don't you dare tell anyone about my Hufflepuff secrets. That means the room of requirement and the gardens. Don't you dare tell anyone about the gardens. Only trust Hufflepuffs_." Max smiled slightly now. That one decision to bypass his father's warning and take three strangers, a fiery-haired Gryffindor girl and two wet Slytherin boys, to the enchanted gardens is what tied him into the most wonderful friend group in the world. That decision made him the _D'artagnan_ of _The Three Musketeers._

"Boys! Come on down for Dinner!" Astoria's voice called magnified to twice its volume.

The two boys skipped down the stairs. Scorpius had to direct Max to the bathroom to wash up before sitting at the table. Scorpius looked overly excited.

"What's for dinner?" Max whispered, noticing an incredible smell pungent in the air.

"Mom always makes my favorite when I get home," Scor grinned.

Astoria waltzed in from the swinging kitchen doors to set in the middle of the table, a pizza. Max tried not to laugh. This perfect house with this picture-perfect family all sitting around the table near Christmas with the most casual type of food before them seemed terribly out of place.

It was delicious anyway. Max was welcome to play the grand piano while Draco helped Astoria with the easy dishes. He was instructed to brush his teeth, comb his curly hair, and get dressed in pajamas before settling in the guest room. Max laid in the cloud like bed with his hands resting below his head. He smiled thinking about how different his friends were. Albus and Rose in a family loud and chaotic. All were singing and playing in the snow, muddy floors and many children all happy to be in each other's company. Then Scorpius in a perfect house with perfect parents. The Malfoy family ran on a schedule with bedtime chores and clean floors. All pleased to be in order. Max's smile faded slightly. Then there was he who had nothing of the sort and nothing in between the two happy variables. But he couldn't feel sorry for himself, he had friends, and he had school, and he had a father, and his brother was alive. He had it better than he sometimes realized.

Something poked at his face repeatedly. Max opened his eyes and jumped backward as a long-nosed and wrinkly face pressed so close that it was blurry.

"Who are you?" Max gasped, clutching at his heart as he was woken from a nightmare.

"I is being Meltin, sir," the house elf squeaked. "And I is waking you up. It is past seven in the morning sir and bake day is to be starting sir in the kitchen sir."

"Seven in the morning?" Max asked incredulously.

"Master's Malfoys have been up since six but isn't wanting to be waking you yet sir. You is talking in your sleep," Wilkin whispered. "I is finished washing your winter things, sir, and I is waiting for your pajamas, sir."

Max stood from bed and stretched. His hair was flat on one side and his eyes full of sleep. Meltin stared up at Max, waiting.

"A little privacy please," he said.

"Oh, yes, of course!" The elf bowed himself from the room, leaving Max to change into his clothes that Meltin had already set aside for him to wear that day and leave his night clothes on the unmade bed that he had started before remembering that the Malfoys had a house elf to do that for him.

He shuffled down the stairs to the smell of freshly baked sweets and the sound of the piano lightly playing on its own.

"Good morning, Maddox," smiled Astoria, as she guided a plate of pancakes across the dining room with her wand to set on the table before him.

Draco was at the end of the oak table drinking coffee black and reading the newspaper ' _Crier's News_.' Scorpius seemed to have already eaten and was now peeling potatoes in a bowl across from Max.

"Do you always have to bake?" Max whispered across the table.

"No, mom does all the real stuff. I just count marshmallows or crack walnuts or something," Scor replied, incredibly focused on the potatoes.

Max smiled in relief, knowing that neither he nor Scorpius would make even noodles.

Astoria took the now empty plate from Max and replaced it with a nutcracker and a bowl full of walnuts.

"Aw," Scorpius whined. "You get the fun job."

Most of the week leading up to Christmas was enjoyable. Scorpius showed Max around the neighborhood. They played in the snow, and Scorpius even showed Max his secret hiding place in Mrs. Hocker's back garden, a woman who never stirs from her early morning to late afternoon nap. At one point, they had come across a Bundimun. Max chucked it through Poppy's now broken bedroom window, and both boys ran laughing as screams bellowed from her room.

"Hey, Scor?" Max asked as they played pirates and voyagers atop Scorpius' bed.

"Hm?" Scor replied, focused on how to get his Voyager pass Max's pirates without getting decapitated.

"Why do you guys call her Stella?"

"Because her name, Heranem, means dirt," he replied shortly, touching his Voyager, then changing his mind for the sixth time.

"Dirt?" Max repeated, unknowing why a rather somewhat cute mermaid such as herself would be cursed with such a name.

"Dirt, sand, grime, take your pick. She was born into the sand and shunned by her guardian and siblings because her eyes were open. Merchildren don't open their eyes until two weeks after birth. But Stella, she was ready. Her parent didn't like that. Wondrous children were a sign of change; they don't want to change; they're scared of her." Scorpius finally moved his piece across the board to rest under Max's Pirate ship.

"I can see why I suppose," said Max thoughtfully, instructing his Kraken to reach under his boat and decapitate Scorpius' voyager. "To go as far as she's going, there's going to be changed. She wants to be a bloody human! That's insane for one thing. Is she the only wonderer so far?"

"There have been others," Scorpius grumbled, scooping his voyager's head from the board. "They usually kill the 'bright-eyes' as soon as they come out. I don't know why Stella was spared, though."

"You've discovered all of this through sign language?" Max asked.

"A bit, others she's told us. She's really improving her English."

"I still don't like this whole idea, but I defiantly want to meet her properly," said Max. "Rose especially, she won't stop going on about Stella. She's slacking on her school again, though I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing; it means she's working hard toward your goal, well, our goal now I suppose. I was reading about Animagus transformations and don't think-"

"Can we please talk about something else?" Scorpius interrupted half irritably, half pleadingly. Max didn't respond; he was slightly confused. "Sugamina, Stella, merpeople, that's all Al talks about these days and just this once, just over the Holidays, I would like to discuss something else. I've breathed and slept Sugamina for months now, and I just need a breath of fresh air and time to clear my head before I start up again."

Max understood. He has had about enough of it already from Rose who was constant in her pursuit. He could imagine how Scorpius felt.

"Max!" Maddox opened his eyes the next morning to find Scorpius at the doorway looking frantic. "Come on! Get dressed! I had Meltin set out some clothes for you. The Grandparents are getting here early; mom's frantic! Just get dressed, brush your teeth, you're going to need to comb your hair down too and, uh, maybe not so indigo. Try blond. Meet us downstairs in five minutes. Oh, and Happy Christmas Eve!"

Max stared at him incredulously. He had no idea what Scorpius had just said; it was probably not anything important. In ten minutes, he had dressed in the super formal white button-up top and a maroon sweater vest that had been placed on the chair at the door and which smelled strongly of mint, parsley, and a hint of Scorpius' cologne.

Max shuffled from the room, yawning and wondering how in the world Scorpius does this every morning.

"There you are!" Scor exclaimed. He was wearing robes of splendid green, and his hair was slicked back to cling to his scalp. He looked rather posh. Scorpius took Max by the arm and began leading him around the room as though he were about to show him something important. "Look," he said in a hushed tone with a glance toward his parents. "The grandparents, their names are Lucius and Narcissa, but you'll only refer to them as Ma'am and Sir. They are blood purist who would have been at the top of the food chain if Voldemort succeeded in world domination. They will likely ask you a bunch of questions but don't say that you were related to Belladonna or a Hufflepuff no matter what. And try not to mention that you're a Gryffindor if you can help it; Grandad only has snide comments about that house, and we'll never hear the end of it. They love talking about themselves so ask them questions if you have to talk. But, we both know you can't lie, so, it's best not to risk talking at all. Don't get into an argument and we'll be okay. Grandad doesn't like blood diversity, mixing, the Minister, Gryffindor, Dumbledore, or really anything that I like. But he will ask you questions, probably to compare you to himself when he was your age; just keep your answers short and sweet. If all goes well, they'll leave early to keep from helping with any cleanup and we'll only have to see them for the first half of Christmas."

Max was trying to process this all. He found these precautions to be very insignificant considering he was indeed a talker in awkward conversations or situations.

"Mom's going crazy in the kitchen and dad is trying to straighten the yard. I have already done my part. You and I are now going to hide in the attic until they arrive," said Scorpius, now pulling the trapped door from the ceiling to reveal a ladder.

"Why are we hiding in the attic?" Max asked.

"To prevent mom from giving you a task because I would have to end up helping with it. If we stay out of her hair, she won't even realize we're gone." He climbed the ladder followed by a quizzical Max who scooted quickly away as the trapped door shut on its own.

Even the Malfoy's attic was immaculate. Not a dust bunny in a corner, not even shards of broken glass as there always seemed to be in attics.

The two boys spent the next twenty minutes going through Draco's old school things and poking fun at all the misspelled words or crappy scribbles in his books. There teasing was interrupted by Draco's voice bellowing a colorful curse word.

"They're here," Scorpius muttered. "Come on! Get out, get out, get out!" he scrambled down the latter and ran to his room to check his hair and posture. Scorpius, of course, doused himself in his cologne and even gave Max a couple of sprits without his consent which left the purple haired boy coughing.

Scor drug Max along the hall and down the stairs. Max was about to stride into the foyer when Scorpius caught him by the neck of his wool sweater vest and yanked him back.

"Your hair!" Scor whispered. "Change the hair! They don't like metamorphmagus' either."

Max scowled slightly at the inconvenience. He didn't understand why everyone was trying so hard to be something they're not to please people they don't even really like.

"So, they don't like anything about me?" Max asked, changing his curls to a neutral brown.

"Except that you're a first-born male," Scor thought.

"But I'm not, Will is," Max said exasperatedly.

"Oh, well then no."

"My eyes?" Max remembered. "I have purple eyes and pointed ears."

"Scorpius, darling! Come say hello to your Grandparents!" Astoria called from the drawing room.

Scorpius was becoming sweaty. He reached out and pulled a bit of Max's hair to unsuccessfully cover his ears. "Your eyes," he said quickly. "They change when you're feeling a strong emotion or something, right?"

"They'll turn yellowish in fear," he thought unhelpfully.

"Good, good. Be scared, be really really scared," Scorpius hit Max on the chest encouragingly and rushed to the foyer where he took a breath and began slowly into the drawing room, holding himself with the grace and dignity that wasn't fitting for such a clumsy boy.

Max shook his head and took a deep breath. He liked it here, at Scorpius' house, but right now he wished he was at the Potter-Weasley family Christmas. Right now, they were probably prepping for dinner, playing in the snow to later ice skate and carol. He smiled thinking about it, then frowned as he suddenly felt like an ungrateful jerk. He thought of the alternative, where he could be right now. He would be at his house in Ireland, eating take-out and sitting in his room with his star chart and trying to ignore Clent and Bailey's voices from downstairs. Here, he had a friend, a gracious host, and a really nice place to lay down at night. He should be beyond appreciative of all he has at this moment. Max sat up straighter; he will do as he was told.

The boy walked dignified to the sitting room to meet their guests.

"Oh, there you are," said Astoria, looking highly distressed.

Two new faces met Max's gaze across the perfectly neat and scented room. The man, Lucius, had light grayish blond hair tied in a low ponytail at the back of his head. His eyes were steel gray like Scorpius, ' but they harbored none of his warmth. Lucius had a face like that of a troubled old man who had made bad choices; he had a way of commanding a room, though. Narcissa had a sour expression and looked uncomfortable. She was skinny with long robes of purple and blond hair tied securely on the back of her head.

"Who is this?" she asked. Her tone wasn't harsh but still not pleasant.

"I'm Vladimir." He cursed his tongue with that name, thinking the Malfoy family to fancy a name such as that, universal ruler. Considering Malfoys have names like Narcissa, Lucius, Draco, and Scorpius. Whoever picked out the names seemed rather fond of their offspring or thought highly of their family name.

Lucius took a couple of steps forward and reached out a stiff hand for Max to take. "Where're your parents? Why are you here?" he asked.

"My dad didn't really want me, sir, and my mother is trying to kill me so that wouldn't make for a very Jolly Holiday."

 _'_ _Crap_ ' Talk about a conversation starter. The words fell from his mouth as the truth often did when he was uncomfortable, and his head wasn't clear to process what he was about to say.

Scorpius was staring wide-eyed at him. Draco rubbed his eyebrows and Astoria sniggered.

"You seem to have an interesting story," said Lucius. "I will, of course, want to hear all about it during dinner." He strode toward the dining room followed by his wife.

Scorpius shook his head in disbelief at the mess Max was about to start. Maddox slapped a hand to his head in regret; one good thing came from his spurt; his eyes were successfully hazel now.

The Malfoy family and Vladimir took a seat at the dining room table much too large for a family of three. The most delicious smelling food was coming from the dishes steaming before them. Max assumed that Astoria had received a lot of help from magic considering he knew from this week's experience that she couldn't cook. The piano in the living room kicked into majestic life as everyone helped themselves.

The atmosphere was tense, as though everybody in the room expected someone else to explode. Max didn't like Lucius; he sat and spoke and ate his food with an air of superiority like that of Clent. He moved in a way to indicate that he had money if that makes any sense. Confidence is fine, crucial even, but he didn't like the way the elderly blond conveyed his.

The evening soon became awkward. Few words were spoken expect Narcissa's comment about not knowing that Astoria was pregnant with a snide glance toward the woman's midriff, she wasn't. Astoria had looked liable to explode as Draco discreetly shook his head pleadingly.

"So, Vladimir," Lucius spoke finally. Max was about to jump at him for using that name when he remembered that he had requested it. "Tell me, why is your mother trying to kill you?"

Max looked at Scorpius who was indicating in a plethora of ways for him not to tell the truth.

Max smiled. "What mother doesn't want to kill her kid every now and then?" he asked playfully.

"And you father?" Lucius continued with a quizzical look in response to the answer. "Why doesn't he want you?"

"Because he's a douche bag and we don't see eye to eye," Max told the truth casually.

"It's impolite to speak of your superiors in such a manner," he said with raised eyebrows and a crude look.

"He thinks and acts like he's better than everyone else because he has money and he wants me to think and act the same."

"There's nothing wrong with that," he said coldly.

"Yes, there is," Max said slowly while mentally preparing himself for an argument.

Scorpius dropped his roll and threw his head onto the table.

"Boy," Lucius started coldly. "Having money brings you to a higher class than lowly mudblood merchants."

"Father!" Draco barked suddenly. "Do not try to bring that vulgar language into our home!"

Max scowled darkly at the release of his least favorite word. "Should we not be judged by our character and who we are as equals rather than the change in our pockets or the type of our blood. Those things won't matter in the slightest when we die and all end up in the same place."

"Does it not matter to you, boy, what will happen to you when you die?"

"No! I'll be dead!"

"Or what will happen to your loved ones?"

"Your loved ones will be mourning the passing of a great person; they won't be rolling in your gold if you leave a good name behind!"

"You speak as though you were raised under the influence of those of unclean blood."

"Because I believe in equality?"

"What are your parents? Are they even our kind?"

"It doesn't matter! That doesn't define who I am!"

Lucius sat back in his chair looking triumphant. "I knew you weren't pureblood," he said snidely. "What I don't understand, it why my own son would allow his house to be infested with an unclean."

"Father, please," Draco begged, looking at the table with clenched fists.

Max's hair couldn't sustain the dull brown. The curl in front of his face was turning, and due to the tingling in his eyes, he knew the jig was up with his hiding him being a metamorphmagus.

Lucius blinked in surprise. "You're-" he started.

"I'm a what?" Max interrupted. "A metamorphmagus, a young, foolish child, a muggle born, a blood traitor, a Gryffindor, a broken piece of a shattered family, poor, low class? Call me what you wish, but it won't matter! It will never matter! Sticks and stones, _sir_. I know who I am and that's all that matters! What's a wealthy name in context of character?"

"There is power in a name. I won't expect a foolish child to yet understand," Lucius continued. "Money _does_ define the person! Money is what represented the most notable and good wizarding families in the world. Merlin, the Black family, the Malfoy family, the Lestrange family, the Drury family, the Willep family-"

 _Screw it._

Max stood from his chair which fell to the floor with an almighty bang and punched the table so hard that his plate shattered and Lucius fell silent.

"There is NOTHING _good_ about the Drury family!" he shouted. "They are malevolent, and evil, and crude, and criminal, and there is nothing associated with the Drury name that doesn't bring death, and chaos, and destruction, and pain!"

"You are too young, too foolish, to understand the methods to what seems like our madness. I, however, am learned in their pursuits so noble. What do you, boy, know about Drury?"

"I am one!" Max practically screamed with rage, leaning over the table until his face was parallel and no more than three inches from Lucius'. Max blinked and backed away, chest heaving. "And I'm ashamed of it," he said quieter.

There was a ringing silence at the table as the whole family stared at him. Max felt terrible about what he had let slip, how badly he had disobeyed Scorpius, and how he had ruined the dinner Astoria worked so hard to prepare. Max sat up straight, truly ashamed now for letting his temper get the best of him; it was always there, welling up inside of him, but he tries so hard to keep it in.

"Excuse me," he croaked before leaving the table causing the silver to cling as he pushed against the oak.

Max paced the lounge. He was holding fists of his hair and starting to feel sick. Distant voices were audible from the next room; Max stopped to listen.

"You were utterly out of place!" Draco's muffled voice demanded.

"That child needs to hold his tongue when in the presence of his superiors!" Lucius barked back.

"You're not his superior! You have not earned his respect!" Draco called.

"He's heading for disaster if he doesn't hold his tongue and straighten his twisted views!"

"Like that ever stopped either of us from making the biggest mistakes of our lives!"

"What are you wanting from me? Am I supposed to apologize?"

"Yes!" Draco called exasperatedly. "He's just a boy who was standing up for what he believes in, just like you and I both! There is more than one opinion in this world! Please, father, be the bigger man here. Don't let your pride get in the way."

"You expect me to beg at the feet of a twelve-year-old for forgiveness!" Lucius called, outraged.

"If you cannot put your pride away to speak to that boy, I do not want you influencing Scorpius anymore."

Max turned away. He didn't want to hear any more; Scorpius had been dragged into the conversation. He turned to the grand piano and began to play lightly, to vent. He had been so stupid, if he had only kept his mouth shut. His fingers grazed the keys as the music washed over him.

' _Well_ ,' he thought. ' _There's another Christmas invite that won't reach me next year._ '

A shadow was cast over the piano and Lucius took a seat on the bench beside Max. The man began to play beat notes in accordance to Max's symphony. Max tried to ignore him.

"I apologize," Lucius croaked after a while. The words seemed very painful.

"Me too," Max mumbled.

"No, you're not."

"Neither are you."

Lucius seized playing and turned to Max.

"I don't like you," he spoke quietly.

"And I feel the same about you. And that's okay; we can't all get along."

"You have spirit; it can get you into trouble."

"I'm a Gryffindor," said Max who hadn't yet averted his eyes from the keys. "I'm expected to."

"Needless to say, I will not be coming for Christmas tomorrow. I feel that we may have another disaster such as tonight," Lucius confessed.

"Don't stay away because of me," said Max.

"They don't want us around anyway; I'm not oblivious."

"Maybe if you listened more than you spoke. Maybe if you gave the slightest interest in things that they find interesting. The world doesn't revolve around you, Lucius."

Lucius sat up and looked on the edge of anger, surprise, and amusement.

"You're awfully outspoken," he said.

"I'm-"

"A Gryffindor, yes. Look, I _apologize,_ " he cringed at the word. "for convicting you of being a dirty blood. If I had known that you were a Drury, I never would have suspected."

"I have Drury blood which makes me feel unclean, dirty, and disgusting every day. I wish you to forget of my spurt. I wish I had never said," Max stopped playing at last.

"But this is fantastic for you!" Lucius said half enthusiastic, gripping Max by the arms. "You have a name! Immunity amongst respected individuals, if the world only knew!"

"The world will never know because I won't let them and neither will you!" Max called suddenly.

Lucius scowled. "You will regret your decision."

"Maybe, but I'll be the judge."

There was nothing else to be said without the start of another argument.

Lucius left for the foyer leaving Max at the piano, wondering what he could have done differently. The Grandparents didn't stay for dessert. Narcissa gathered up her things and made a spiteful comment about the beef casserole, pat Scorpius on the head, and exited through the door that her husband was holding open. Max joined the family to nod them out. With a gust of snow entering the house, the door was closed the horror was over.

Nobody spoke. "I'm sorry," Max said at last.

Draco turned. "You were both foolish, you were both wrong, but we will say nothing more of the event, right?"

Astoria nodded. Draco turned to his son with a raised eyebrow.

"I will say nothing more of the event," Scorpius complied.

The parents turned to clean up dinner.

 _"_ _What the heck was that?"_ Scor mouthed to Max.

That night was a bit uncomfortable. Scorpius had joined Max in the guest room to scorn him then assure him that it was all going to be okay. Scorpius had gotten Max to play poker to take his mind off the evening but promised not to keep all that he had won from the gambling saying that this was only 'practice.'

The following morning continued as though the events of the past night had never happened. Music played lightly on its own as the family sat on the sofas to happily open gifts, only, the Malfoys liked to save the wrappings which made the process take a lot longer.

Max received a star maker from Scorpius (open and let loose to spray an accurate map of the constellations across any surface), a kite from Al (because of a disagreement they had had regarding its use), and a really nice crimson coat from Rose (because she had scorned him for not having on that fit properly and because she always ended up wearing his old blue one). She had also sent a variety of familiar Weasley-Potter sweet and pies.

The last gift was light weight and lumpy. He opened it to find, to his surprise, another Weasley jumper. This one navy blue with an orange 'M' embroidered on the front. He recognized the unique stitch from his last jumper and knew that this one had been made by Molly Weasley senior. It's difficult to explain when you're hit with the Christmas spirit at last. It's like you just took a sip of a hot butterbeer while standing in the snow with a fifty-piece orchestra slowly leading to the climax of Carol of the Snails. Max took a deep breath as he pulled the jumper over his head and suddenly emerged into the most festive living area he had ever seen. The Christmas tree glowed brighter and more beautiful. The most incredible smells of gingerbread and pine needles met his senses while the music had never sounded so sweet.

Max grinned at Scorpius, suddenly very giddy. Scorpius was opening a gift from Olivia which ended up being a pair of black running shoes with a note that read ' _To help you keep up._ ' The last gift Scor took was wrapped in shiny green paper rather poorly compared the rest of his perfectly symmetrical gifts from his parents. It took a moment for Scorpius to understand what he was holding. A thick pile of wool lay limp over his arms. The wool was emerald green and over the front was a large silver letter 'S.' Scor froze for a moment, then swung the jumper over his head and grinned broader than ever.

"I got a Weasley jumper!" he called. "I'm like, totally in now!"

Draco stared openly at his son wearing the sweater but said nothing.

The rest of the day was spent in their new jumpers. The Malfoys tinkered with their Christmas items, baked for their Christmas feast, and Max tried his new kite outside but still had absolutely no idea what the significance of a piece of paper in the air was. Max was happy to share his Weasley-Potter sweets with the Malfoy family. Astoria was quite impressed. Scorpius bundled up in coat, hat, and scarf to wish the elderly neighbors a Happy Christmas.

Overall, the Malfoy Christmas was nearly the exact opposite of the Weasley-Potter version but surpassed the Everard's. Max was beyond grateful for his invitation and the Malfoy overlooking of his outburst. Scorpius was a good friend, Astoria was a gracious host, and Draco wasn't as everyone thought.


	20. Rescue Mission

Rose Weasley waltzed down the train corridor arm in arm with her cousin, Albus. She was beyond ecstatic. Rose and Al had gone through some rather challenging measures to achieve a shared goal and were now anticipant to share their success with Scorpius and Max.

Rose smiled and waved at her friends in passing compartments and seats. She clutched her satchel tighter. She and Al knocked on a compartment window to wave at Olivia who was talking rather sternly to her brothers who were covered in some type of slimy ink and looking rather defeated. She smiled and waved back. They continued.

"Olivia?" Rose just realized.

"What about her?" Al asked.

"Are we sharing with her? Is she coming?"

"Obviously," Al shrugged. "She's been loyal to this challenge as much as any of us; she has done most of the dirty work too. She deserves as much as anyone to come."

The two cousins swung into a separate train corridor to spot a mound of indigo curls atop a familiar boy. Max and Scorpius were conversing with James and Tyler whose vow of silence was at last over just before the Holidays.

"Max!" Rose screeched the same time Al shouted Scor's name.

She ran to her friend and threw her arms around his middle. He smelled of pine needles and Christmas and had the freshness of the outdoor snow pungent on the coat she had bought him.

"We have something huge to tell you!" she gasped. "I swear it's-" she stopped with a glance at James and Tyler who were watching them curiously. "We'll tell you later," she whispered.

"Why don't you tell him now, Red?" James asked, propping his hands under his chin. "I'm quite interested."

"I'll tell you if you tell us," she smirked.

James' hand slipped. "Tell you what?" he asked quickly.

"You know," she smiled before turning with a flip of her red curls that she had in a ponytail today and continuing down the hall with her arms linked with Al and Max.

"You don't reckon?" she heard James whisper frantically.

"Oh, calm down mate," Tyler waved airily. "She doesn't know anything. We've been as stelfy as a letherfold."

Rose swung into their compartment at the back of the train. Rose forced Max into the seat opposite though he was already about to sit.

"I know how to take a seat," Max said, half annoyed half amused.

"I know, I'm just so excited!" she said.

The train gave a lurch and started toward the countryside.

"Will you tell us now?" said Scorpius who looked extremely relaxed with his hands behind his head as he slouched in the seat opposite her and Al.

"Not yet," Al spoke as Rose was about to blurt out their findings. "We have to wait for Olivia."

It was the longest twenty-two minutes Rose had ever had to wait. She wanted to tell Max everything to its full extent! She wanted to share her glee with her best friend, and Scorpius, of course, Scorpius too.

The food trolley had come and gone by the time Olivia finally swung into the compartment looking very irritated.

"Sorry guys," she huffed. "I was stuck behind the trolley all the way up here. The thing takes up the whole of the corridor and stops at every compartment. Oh my God, and Poppy, she saw me trying to get past and purposely took six minutes to purchase all the licorice which she knows is my favorite!" Max smiled slightly. "But what is it? Al wrote me."

Rose grinned at Al who she thought should do the honors. She pulled a small tin can from her back and offered it to him. Al flipped off the top and showed the residence of the compartment.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked.

Scorpius turned his nose up, Max tilted his head, and Olivia gasped.

"It's seaweed," Max decided.

"Of course it's not!" Olivia said quickly. "Don't you pay attention in Potions?"

"No."

"This," Rose smiled mysteriously, reaching into the box and taking a handful of the slimy black weed that squelched in her hand. "Is a very rare and very expensive plant called gillyweed."

It took Max a moment before the expression of shock reached his face; Scorpius still didn't understand.

"Scor," Al rolled his eyes. "You eat this, and you can breathe underwater," he elaborated.

"I have to put that in my mouth?" Scorpius replied with the ghost of a gag behind his words.

Albus looked stunned. "Are you not hearing me? We can breathe underwater! And see Stella for real! I thought of all people you would be excited about that, Scor. It wasn't exactly easy to acquire."

"How did you acquire it?" Olivia asked, taking the weeds from Rose's hand to examine them.

"We found it in the Apothecary while we were Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley," Rose whispered. "Well, not in the Apothecary per-say. There was a pamphlet of darker more rare items you could find in Knockturn Alley. We… well, it's actually a very long story. I'll try to sum it up. Al and I had to do a side along apparition with our Uncle George (the only person who would do as we ask without questions and cross his fingers that we were getting into shenanigans and making memories). Al and I went home to collect as much gold as we could. With what's between us, we had enough for the Gillyweed itself, but we were underage and couldn't purchase it. We had George make an excuse for why we were gone as we snuck away. It took a lot of asking and bribes, but we got this toothless old guy with only one strand of hair on his head to make the buy. We paid him, hid the weed, and ran back." Rose took a breath. "That's why you guys got smaller gifts this year; we didn't have much gold left. We had plenty of knuts, though. I actually had to pay the clerk all in knuts for that coat," she pointed at Max jacket with a snigger. "He was pretty pissed off."

"Stella is going to be thrilled when she finds out that we can visit her!" Al said allowed.

"But we can't tell her until at least March," said Scorpius finally.

"What do you mean?"

"He means the lake will be freezing!" Max exclaimed. "We'd be mad to go before then."

"We can't wait until March!" Al exclaimed. "Gillyweed dies out when it's not attached to its root!"

"Al," said Max soothingly as though speaking to a frantic child. "You guys will catch hypothermia and die if we go any sooner. The lake won't thaw until mid-February anyway."

Rose was thinking hard. She was so excited about the Gillyweed and the prospect of finally meeting Stella that she hadn't thought about the weather or the temperature of the water. She could imagine what her friends were probably thinking, that they were mad most likely. Judging by their expressions, that was exactly what they were thinking.

"Guys," Olivia started. "It's too cold. But I suppose if we wait until the lake warms up, we can nick a bit of Gillyweed from Professor Killpii's cupboard."

This option wasn't bad, but still, Al looked horrified at having to wait or that he and Rose's troubles to acquire the ingredient were all for not. Nobody said anything for a moment.

"Oh God!" Rose suddenly exclaimed. "I'm such a jerk! How was your Christmas?" she smiled interestedly to Max and Scor.

"I enjoyed it," Max said after a moment.

"He yelled at my Grandad," Scorpius said casually, opening a book and slipping his reading glasses over his nose.

"You did?" Al was finally brought back. "To Lucius? What happened."

It was a rather colorful story told by Scorpius with no assistance from Max who looked rather ashamed. At the end of the tale in which Rose was scowling all the way through, she said,

"Why do you seem so upset, then?" she asked Max. "You were right. How beastly for Lucius to say such things!"

"You're a Drury?" Olivia spoke, looking fascinated.

"I was completely out of place," said Max. "I need to learn to hold my tongue."

Rose laughed slightly. "But we both know you won't," she said. "You speak your mind and stand up for what you believe in; that's one of the things I like best about you. But because we both know that you can't keep your opinion during the moment, you should stop feeling so bummed about it later. Own it."

She stopped for a moment and thought. That's something she would never have said at the beginning of the year. She would have thought then that remorse or regret for his actions would have been well suited, good even. But she was now advising him not to? Had she changed so much in just four months?

Rose smiled slightly. That's good she supposed. She pulled from her bag a book on signing. She had been studying all throughout the Holidays and now knew basic greeting. Al had been tutoring her in the language as well. Their family had thought it to be odd as deafness was very rare for a wizard and only obtained through dark magic untreatable by healers. They had made an excuse for it being her and Al's secret language and way to communicate during class while lessons were still in progress.

They spoke about their Holiday and what they got silly things that had happened, and unwelcome relatives. They spoke of things that rather mature twelve-year-old would until the screech of wheels on metal announced that they were home. The four tweens were starving, having had only breakfast and sugar to keep them nourished until dusk.

The crowds of students pouring from the train was incredible and smelled rather bad, as though you were cramped shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of teenagers…

"I can smell the feast from here!" said Max as they stepped from the train onto the platform at Hogsmeade Station. He held his nose in the air and took a sniff then sneezed because he had just inhaled the snow that wall falling lightly.

Rose watched him wrap his scarf tighter around his neck and shiver. She wondered whether she should have purchased the fur coat she had been debating on rather than that red one.

"Yeh just wait there!" came a booming voice from behind them. A truly gigantic hand reached out and pulled Al back from the carriage he had been about to climb.

They turned to find Hagrid staring down at them, looking just as hairy, just as huge as ever. "I need to talk to yeh lot 'bout somthin' important," he said with a wary glance around with his beetle-black eyes. "Come with me."

Rose, Max, Al, Scor, and Olivia followed Hagrid without asking questions at first. He seemed to be leading them to his hut. Nobody questioned Olivia being there. For all they cared, she was one of them when concerning Sugamina. She was a 'Sugar' as Rose and Al had decided to call themselves. 'Suga' being the first part of Sugamina and 'r' for 'reverse' Sugar…

"Hagrid? What's wrong?" Rose asked curiously, as she could easily tell a serious look behind Hagrid's bearded face.

"I'll tell you in a minute," he said. "Let's just get back to me hut."

Rose looked curiously at Max who shook his head, encouraging her not to ask anything else. Sugar had a feeling that they were in trouble though they couldn't imagine what they could have done that would have been caught. Unless, one of the house elves snitched about them hanging in the gardens and were about to be told off for it, but a matter like that wouldn't require such secrecy.

They were led toward Hagrid's home. A cozy little cabin shaped more like a crooked pot. Made of wood and stone, ivy grew along the walls, and wood posts held up the greater parts of the hut.

"Come on in," grunted Hagrid, holding the oak door open for the children to troop in with wary glances at each other. They took a seat on Hagrid's massive quilted bed, leaving his armchair for the half-giant himself. Hagrid busied himself at the kitchen table and set before them, a plate of stoked sandwiches, treacle fudge, rock cakes, and tea. "I expect you're hungry," he said, sitting heavily in his armchair and staring at them for a moment. Each looked guilty though they weren't of anything, yet, and nobody touched the food. "Who's this?" he asked on Olivia's behalf.

"This is Olivia Merik," said Scorpius. "She's okay."

Hagrid took a breath. "I've received peculiar information recently. Information that I strongly suspect involves the greater part of you four."

The five students listened curiously.

"I try not to meddle in the business of the lake dwellers," Hagrid started. The five of them raised their eyebrows. "The merpeople especially. They can become rather aggressive and usually are reproachful and wary of humans. But I was approached, by the chief of all." He paused to look at them closer. "I was told that one of his people had been in contact with humans, an act forbidden by merlaw. Apparently, a sand scavenger spotted one of them, a girl, communicating to a Hogwarts student near the lake weeds." He paused again. "The scavenger reported the event but didn't recognize the student. I was warned to keep the students of this castle away from his people and to find the human who had been in communion with his mermaid." Hagrid seemed to have finished because he folded his arms and sat back in his chair, looking at them scrutinizing.

"That's an interesting story Hagrid," said Max casually. "But what does that have to do with us?"

"Don't act like you don't know," Hagrid warned. "I know it was you, at least these two." He jabbed a thick finger at Al and Scorpius. "Caught with a student after hours after two Slytherins just so happen to come to me with questions about the lake dwellers just earlier last semester. Come now, this is exactly the thing Harry Potter would have done. I knew your father well, Albus, and you're little different from him."

"Honestly, Hagrid," said Scorpius. "We don't know what you're talking about."

"Look yeh two," he said sternly to Al and Scor. "I know you're involved in some way even if yeh don't want to say anything. Now I ain't saying nothing, but I must impress upon yeh how serious this is. The merpeople were here before Hogwarts was even built. That was the treaty between the merpeople and the four founders, that if they're left in peace, there will be no quarrels. But the chief these days, he's not a friendly bloke and would have any student to came too close to his land shot down is he had his way. Yeh must stay away from the lake weeds, that's where their land starts. Yeh can still swim and study by the rocks, but otherwise, stay away. If yeh don't, you can very well be expelled and I don't want that to happen. Do you understand?"

Everyone except for Al nodded. They understood fine, but that didn't mean they wouldn't do it anyway. Al said nothing and looked at no one; he was thinking.

"What did they do to her?" Albus asked finally.

"What did they do to who?"

"The mermaid who had been caught, did the chief say what they were going to do to her?"

"Yeah," Hagrid thought, scratching his graying beard. "I do recall him saying something. It was last week, mind yeh, and he doesn't speak good English. I had to stick my head underwater to hear 'em; the lake is bloody freezing this time'a year. But yeah, he said that she was punished most severely. They would set an example for the other merpeople. Poor thing."

Al jumped to his feet. "Why didn't you do anything?" he called angrily.

"What could I do? I'm not allowed on their territory. They would have the full right to kill me. I don't want the poor thing in trouble, but I have no say over the merpeople."

"Kemp!" Al shouted, now gripping his hair rather frantically. "Why don't you tell Professor Kemp?"

"Professor Kemp can do no more than I can," said Hagrid helplessly.

Al ran to the door and swung it open, allowing in flurries of snow to blow in and make the others shutter.

"Where yeh goin'?" Hagrid called.

"Sleep!" Albus called angrily. "I'm tired!"

The others ran after him, Rose in the lead until Olivia sped past.

Albus was marching away looking as dangerous as Max when he was angry. You could almost see red in his eyes.

"Where are you going?" Rose called breathlessly, shivering as the snow engulfed up to her ankles as they trudged on.

Al yanked Rose's bag of her shoulder and ripped the small tin can containing Gillyweed, out. "Where do you think?" he grunted, seemingly unbothered by the freezing snow.

"To the afterlife, if you try'n dive now!" called Max.

"The water's in the negatives!" called Olivia.

"If you jump," Rose started through chattering teeth. "You'll first go into involuntary inhalation which if done underwater will fill your lungs with water, and you'll drown! You can have a heart attack because your heart will have to work twice as hard to pump blood! You'll start hyperventilating, and even if you do have enough sense to come back, you'll fall victim of hypothermia before we reach the castle! You'll have to-"

"I know!" he called, turning at last toward them. "I've read all of those anatomy and first response book with you last year, Rose! I know the dangers! But who is to say they haven't already hurt Stella? Think about her. It is because of me that she's being punished. That was a week ago!" Al started off again. "She's told me about the chief. Terrible, he is. I'm not letting her be trapped any longer!" Al stopped again, and Rose noticed that they were beside the lake weeds.

"The lake is frozen solid," Scorpius tried.

"Bombarda!" Al called, blasting the ice with his wand. The top of the lake cracked, and a hole appeared through the ice allowing a small person to fit.

The four sane students leaned forward to stare into the hole helplessly. Al took a shuttering breath and ripped his winter layer off to be thrown onto the ground. He gave his glasses to Scorpius and sighed.

"Albus," Rose pleaded in hardly more than a whisper.

Al turned to her. "Stella is my friend," he said. "I'm not going to bed knowing that she is being hurt. I will help her; I won't let her be alone. Surely you know the feeling."

He took a rather small portion of the slimy Gillyweed and quickly placed the plant in his mouth. He began inhaling rapidly and with one last look back, he dove into the hole.

Everyone stared after him. The atmosphere thick with shock.

"Bloody hell," they turned to see Scorpius stripping his winter layer off as well. He was muttering things like, ("I mean really" "Obviously, you expect me to come" "You had to be heroic, didn't you?"). He pinched his nose, ate the Gillyweed and rubbing his hands said, "Here I come, you self-centered bastard." And he dove after Al.

Rose huffed, faced with an option between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. "Screw it," she mumbled. Ripping off her clothing until she was in only her wool tights and white button up.

"Rose, don't," Max pleaded.

"Why not?" she asked, not caring and silently cursing how cold her feet were as she stripped off her socks to stand in the snow.

"Well, besides death, if you go, then I have to go," he replied, stripping off his coat regrettably.

"No, you don't," she said quickly.

"You jump, I jump, Rose," he said, untying his shoes and removing his shirt. "Olivia, you stay behind in case we need to get up and can't find the hole."

"Like hell, I'm staying," she scowled, already with the Gillyweed in her mouth.

She took a running start before jumping in, followed my Rose and Max who was sure that he was mad.

Rose immediately felt ice wash over and in her. She swallowed the revolting slimy, rubbery plant and waited, her body reacting just as she had told Al it would. She began shivering and hyperventilating frantically. Water filled her lungs, and she was horrified that the Gillyweed wouldn't work, or perhaps she and Al had bought a dud; they knew it was possible. She began to sink as she drowned. Unfortunately, it seemed for the first time, she no longer had a soft layer of flesh around her body allowing her to float, but fifteen extra pounds of Quidditch muscle that she had gained over nearly two years were causing her to sink further into the icy depths. She gagged and choked as something firm gripped her by the arms. Who she could only assume through the darkness was Max, began kicking upward with her. He had always been a stronger swimmer, often cliff jumping into the Atlantic from Dingle's cliffs back home.

Suddenly something that felt like a knife seemed to gash as her throat. Different from the stabbing pain of the water. She gripped at either side of her neck. She did have gashes. She suddenly stopped hyperventilating and took a gulp of oxygen without breathing through her nose or mouth. _She had gills_. The water was no longer cold either. She felt cool and comfortable and suddenly full of energy. Because Max had stopped kicking upward, Rose assumed that he was experiencing the same feats. They turned to the only speck of light around which was the moonlight from the whole in the ice. A silhouette that was Olivia glided gracefully through the water. Swimming as though she had been able to breathe underwater with webbed hands and flippers all her life. For that is what had also grown, webs between their fingers and flippers from their feet. One kick sent them zipping five feet through the water, but still, they had no light.

Rose pulled her wand from her ponytail where she normally kept it.

"Lumos!" she tried, but only bubbles escaped her mouth. She tried again. Nothing. Hit with an idea, she kicked back up to the opening in the ice and emerged. Startled at first that she was unable to breathe above water, she muttered "Lumos!" again and her wand tip illuminated. She dove back under and took a gulp of oxygen.

The light spread through the water. They saw the drop off that they had jumped into, the slimy stones and silt of the lake ground, and Olivia, swimming toward them with hair that flowed black behind her. She took them by the hands and opened her mouth to say something where only bubbles escaped. She watched the bubbles as they floated up and shrugged. Olivia pointed further into the lake, and Rose and Max both thought it best to follow. It was a peculiar feeling that Rose couldn't get used to. She had gills. She was breathing without taking a breath. She couldn't wiggle her fingers freely and yawned while under water. Max looked incredibly focused. He didn't gawk around at the under lake, or the giant mass that swam past and which the others thought likely to be the giant squid, or the hibernating grindylows all curled up together in a heap, floating around like a beach ball. Rose was half tempted to kick the pile and see if they go swarming like baby spiders. She decided otherwise. They were on a mission. The fact was, nobody had any idea where they were going. Were they looking for the merpeople village or Alcor?

Olivia tugged on Rose's shirt and pointed at a small mass gliding up ahead. It was too small to be the squid and too large to be any fish that wouldn't be about in this water anyway. The three kicked harder. As they drew closer; Rose could clearly see Al's black hair billowing behind him. The two lost boys spun around, probably due to the light.

Al looked confused at them. Rose had been trying to convince him that he would die if he jumped in yet she and the other jumped in anyway? Scorpius grinned and did a fancy spin for them in which Rose, Max, and Olivia clapped.

Al put his finger to his mouth to silence them though they were making no noise. He pointed toward an orange light pinpricked ahead. He gestured to Rose to shut her wand off. She had forgotten that you had to utter the counter-spell 'Nox' to turn off the light. Because she didn't have pockets and Max's wasn't thick enough to snuff out the light, she did the next logical thing; she closed the tip of her wand in her mouth. Sure, this caused her cheeks to turn the blue of the light and Max to laugh, but it was no longer bright.

Al led them through a thicket of weeds that were difficult to maneuver through without getting tangled, a few of them did. A sandhill stood where the weeds cleared. The two Gryffindors and three Slytherins stopped behind it and glanced over. A most spectacular sight awaited them.

Stone dwelling hacked from stone what seemed like years ago stood randomly before them. Algae covered the roofs, and black windows were silhouetted round. Stones had been pressed into the sand to make the clearing seen as a town square. Flames glowed in bubbles floating head height before each dwelling. The town seemed uninhabited. They supposed that the others were asleep thankfully. Al played captain without any objections and beckoned them onward. They passed many crude statues of merpeople fighting or winning or slaying. The ceased before the first stone dwelling, and with a look at each other, they knew that they were all thinking the same thing. _Where is Stella?_

Was she perhaps in a dungeon? Had she been locked up in her room or tied somewhere? Rose had a second thought rising to the surface. _How long does Gillyweed last?_ Sooner or later she knew that hers and the rest of the Sugar's gills would close around their necks. Their fingers will become unwebbed, and the water will become freezing. Her Uncle Harry was the only other person she knew to have ever taken gillyweed which had lasted a little over an hour, but she didn't know how much he had taken; that mattered too.

Al's eyes were of little use without his glasses now. Since he started wearing them, his sight with glasses had improved but his sight without was greatly deteriorating.

They swam as quiet and inconspicuous as they could, sneaking from dwellings to behind statues and under bushels of kelp. They came to the foot of the largest statue in the middle of the square. Well, the tail of the statue more like. A vast merperson towered over them and seemed to be staring straight at the five as though he knew they weren't supposed to be there.

Scorpius tapped each person on the shoulder and pointed up solemnly. Above them, was the underbelly of a cage which dangled from the spear that the statue was holding. Quickly, Sugar swam upward toward the slowly swaying cage. Inside was a body. The body of a girl. She was laying curled into a ball. Her silver fish tail curled under her and her greenish hair which was swaying in the water covered her face.

Al reached a hand into the trap and moved the hair from the girl's face, then took her by the arm. The girl seemed startled and spun around so fast that the cage swayed quite roughly now.

"Stella!" Al called though only a bubble escaped his mouth.

"Albus Potter!" she whispered excitedly. Her voice didn't sound cracked and scratchy as Rose had expected, nor did a bubble escape. It was soft and light. Her voice was rather ethereal and angelic. Rose suddenly remembered a rhyme that Harry had told them once regarding merpeople.

 _"_ _Come seek us where our voices sound. We cannot sing above the ground."_

Merpeople couldn't speak English above ground, but they could speak and sing below.

"Your voice is beautiful," Al signed.

Stella beamed but then frowned as she tucked at the bars.

"I am stuck, Albus Potter. I cannot open the lock," she said softly.

Rose was mesmerized. Stella looked, a lot more human than she had imagined her to be. Her teeth weren't cracked, her eyes were hardly yellow, and her voice was kind.

Stella did not have a top on. Al quickly ripped his white button up from his shoulders and handed it through the bars to Stella. She fitted it over her shoulders and made her look rather smaller. Albus busied himself with the lock. He was shaking his head as Scorpius kept swimming to the ground to find small items such as rocks or sticks and giving them to Al to pick the lock.

"You must be quieter," said Stella, looking around worriedly. "If they find you, they'll lock you in cages too, and I know you can't hold your breath for that long."

Max swam forward and moved Al away. He pulled his earing from his cartilage and began fitting the needle into the lock that was crusted and bent.

"What have they done to you?" Al signed. Olivia handed Max her barrette.

"They have locked me up," said Stella mournfully. "They have laughed at me, and they have poked me with sticks."

Maybe it was Rose's imagination, but the water around Albus seemed hotter than the rest. He looked furious as he reached into the cage to graze a thick scar across Stella's cheek.

"That one's new," he said.

There was a 'click, ' and Stella's cage door swung open. The others had to dive aside so not to be hit by Al who had jumped to the opening and yanked Stella out and into an earnest hug.

Rose could hardly tell due to the fact that they're underwater, but Stella looked as though she were crying.

"Thank you, Albus Potter," she sniffed in an angle-like voice.

Al pulled away and brushed her hair from her face and smiled.

"We need to get you out of here," he signed.

Something unwelcoming met their ears. They all stopped to listen.

"I hear something," came a raspy voice from below. A merman with a strong silver tail swam from a dwelling and into the square.

Stella took Al by the arm and pulled him to duck into the crown that the giant merperson statue had chiseled upon its head; the others followed.

"The cage!" called the same merman.

"What in the name of-!" a second merperson called. Neither sounded angelic or pleasant to the ear. "Heranam, it's gone!" he called, shaking the cage as though she were invisible and expected to rattle. "Who locked the cage!"

"I did, sir! Most securely!"

Nearly every merperson in the town was pouring from their dwellings to marvel at the empty cage.

"You're going to have the chief to answer to!"

Stella took both Albus and Scorpius by the arms and backed them from the statue as there were no merpeople on that side yet. Rose blinked as Stella sped away with Albus and Scorpius. The other three took off after them.

"I see something!" came a shriek from behind them.

"Get her! Get her!"

Heart pounding, Rose zipped through the weeds, pulling her wand from her mouth and using the light again to navigate around rocks. Ahead was pitch black. Rose assumed that Stella had some sort of night vision as she didn't need a light at all, or perhaps she was merely familiar with the root.

Voices continued as they swam for their lives. The task of untangling themselves from the kelp, dodging rocks, and the exhausting task of kicking was only made more difficult when Olivia had accidentally barreled through a mound of grindylow. As Rose had expected, they swarmed and seemed to become angry. Perhaps this mistake of waking beasts that could very well kill you was a good thing because after they had disappeared into the weeds to hide, the voices in pursuit began cursing.

"Get 'em off!" they would cry. "Filthy pests!"

They followed Stella for what had to be another twenty minutes. The gillyweed had to be wearing off any minute now. She led them down a sand bank, under a rather huge stone, and into a tunnel in the stone. It was very dark within. Rose was wondering how they would reach the surface of the water and break the ice in time if their gills began to disappear. The slimy, algae covered walls beside them began to close in until the wall was softly grazing both Rose's shoulders. She suddenly hit something firm and pointed her wand to Max who was hyperventilating through his gills rather than his mouth. He was turned sideways along the wall because his shoulders were broader than the other. Rose tapped him to move on quickly; the fear that their time was running out was becoming great.

He looked at her with yellow eyes. This startled Rose. Was he claustrophobic? She hit him on the back encouragingly and placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him moving forward. The walls closed in further until Rose had to turn as well. It became harder to keep Max going. He was continuously making gestured as to go back. Her arms were being sliced by the sharp lips of clams that clung to the stone wall. Finally, the walls began to open and quite suddenly, they almost fell into a cave. Stella swam upward; the others followed her. They emerged from the water to find that a full eight feet of open air was before them. Rose sighed deeply, this way, if their time was up, they could simply emerge from where they were.

Unfortunately, they found that they were now unable to breathe above water. They ducked back under as Stella remained above, fiddling with something perched on the ledge. Light struck into life above them, and Stella returned, now with a faint yellow flickering to illuminate a small portion around them.

"I have lit-" she stopped to look at Al. "Candles I think they're called."

Al nodded proudly. "Thank you all for coming for me," she smiled. "I fear that I would have been in that cage until July."

"Have they ever done something like this before?" Scorpius signed.

Stella nodded. "They catch me, and they punish me," she said sadly. "I am a shame to them."

"They're just a bunch of-" the last word Al signed, Rose didn't recognize.

Stella laughed, then turned to Rose. "You must be Rose Weasley," she said and gave Rose a peculiar feeling hug. "Of course, I know Olivia, and again, I'm sorry for trying to kill you, Max."

"What?" said Rose, but the thought left her mind with the stabbing pain against her throat and a chill that wrapped around her. She knew their time was really up now. Albus was already kicking toward the surface while the other continued after. Their heads broke the water, and a tickling feeling between their finger and toes told them that the webbing was disappearing too. Rose pushed herself onto the stone ledge which was wet and cold. She sat there after almost forgetting how to inhaul through her mouth, and pulled her knees to her chest.

The others clambered on as well, all shivering and gasping. Stella emerged from the water as well and pointed to the three candle stubs that were flickering. Rose tried to warm her hands by them.

"I found, and left to dry," said Stella. Her voice was no longer soft and sweet, but forced and sounded as though she were speaking from her throat or as though she were a parrot.

"How," Rose chattered. "Are we going to get out? The tunnels too long to hold our breath through."

Albus and Scor looked at each other worriedly.

"No need to panic," said Olivia as the other were beginning to do just that. She pulled from the pocket of her black Hogwarts skirt, the small tin that Rose had used to contain the gillyweed. Rose silently prayed as Olivia popped off the lid. Inside contained a tiny pinch of the black, rubbery, worm-like weed.

"You're brilliant," said Scorpius in amazement.

"Will you tell my brothers that?"

Rose conjured a large flame before them which warmed them right up. The fire also illuminated hundreds of cave drawings along the walls. For hours, they listened to Stella tell the stories behind them. Rose, Max, Scor, Al, and Olivia laid on their stomachs, listening to the extraordinary history of the merpeople's past and their coming to live in the Black Lake. Rose reckoned that Dumbledore likely didn't even know so much about the sea creatures. Stella was sometimes difficult to understand because she had trouble pronouncing certain letter, 'X,' 'Z,' 'R,' and she spoke in a way that sounded as though she had water in her throat. But every word they could understand, they held tight.

"There was once a time where big squids lived in the lake, many. They were our friends, and we were theirs. That was until a war began between our species concerning the accidental murder of the chief's heir by the tentacle of the squid. From that day forward, my people chased the squids from our land and split the lake in two. There began a great war." She looked at them, sadly. "We won. So great was the slaughter that only one remains now." She ran her webbed hand across drawings of mounds of tentacles and other squid parts. "I feel sorry for the giant squid. It had lost everything, its whole family, and it wasn't even responsible for the death. Just that one squid, and that one accident."

There was a heavy silence that followed her tale.

"But Stella," Al started. "What's going to happen to you now? Where are you going to go? You can't get back."

"I will stay here," she replied. "I spend most time here anyway. I'll eat the clams on the walls, and I will sleep on the rock."

Al shook his head sadly. "That's no life to have."

"Won't they find you here? The drawings, surely this is a place your people visit," said Max.

"They won't come here," she said with a slight laugh. "They are terrified of this place."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"Because it's a mausoleum."

The others perched on the rock paused, then looked down into the depths of the water.

"Lucanos," said Rose as she sent a ball of light into the lake. It traveled deeper and deeper until, near fifty meters, it passed a skeleton of a giant squid perched on a stone ledge. The ball of light finally stopped as it hit the ground to reveal hundreds of bones twisted in a crude mass.

Scorpius gagged.

"I swear, Stella," said Al, gripping her cold, wet hand. "I'll work harder than I have ever before. You're going to be human, and you're going to live with us, up in the castle."

Rose glanced at him worriedly. Even if Stella was successfully Sugamneed, that wouldn't mean that she would have magical abilities. She looked sadly at Stella who was beaming. What this young mermaid has gone, and will go through, is going to be traumatic.

Rose jumped to her feet suddenly. She was looking at her watch that only still ticked because Professor Kemp had made it water resistant in her previous year. "We've been here all night!" she called. "Classes start in an hour!"

An hour should be enough to get to the surface, find their clothes, and get to the castle… maybe.

Olivia ripped open the tin can and began unraveling the knot of weed. There was only enough for each to have one rope-like rat tail. Everyone pushed it into their mouths. Scorpius held his nose again. They each said goodbye to Stella.

"I promise," Albus said again. Before diving back into the water.

They pushed back through the cramped tunnel to emerge where light shown weakly through the ice. Stella followed them.

"We must go this way," she said, once again softly. "The ice is thinner over here. You'll never be able to break it otherwise."

Rose hadn't realized how sore she was. Her upper body was truly rather strong, but Quidditch did very litter for her legs. Olivia, who ran more than she sat, was far ahead. The water was becoming brighter which was fortunate because Rose had forgotten to light her wand. At nearly fifty more meters from the surface of the water, Rose hit something and turned to see that Albus had stopped swimming and was now grasping at his gills which were closing.

"Stella!" Rose screeched, but only a large silver bubble escaped her. Rose grabbed at Al and started trying to pull him up, all the while still calling. "Stella! Stella!"

Max turned and grabbed Scorpius who both swam back. Olivia and Stella turned too. All of Al's friends took him and tried to pull him up, but it should take at least another minute and a half that Al didn't have. His gillyweed had completely gone from him as his flippers became only feet and his fingers separated. Bubbles issued from everyone's mouth. Bubbles that probably were meant to be words of encouragement and reassurance.

Albus began to fade. His eyes began to roll back in his head, and he became heavier.

"Stella!" everyone screeched.

Stella, who had been trying to heave Al, thought for a moment then, making up her mind, did something that made the issuing bubbles from the other's mouth cease in shock. She pushed the others away and pressed her lips to his mouth as if in a kiss. Everyone stared.

 _Was this perhaps a goodbye kiss_? Rose thought.

But it wasn't. Albus came too. He blinked and seemed to have a bubble in his mouth. Stella took him by the hand and pulled him to the surface where the ice was easily cracked, and Al was pushed onto snowy ground. Scorpius immediately climbed out after him, but the other stayed to gawk at the mermaid.

"You kissed him," said Olivia in shock.

"A kiss?" she repeated quizzically. "Oh! You mean what humans do to show affection to one another? No, no, I breathed him life."

"I don't understand," said Rose.

"Merpeople have a bubble of oxygen in our throats that we use to breathe if our gills become clogged or covered," she replied. "That's one of the reasons it's difficult to speak above land. I simply gave mine to him."

"But won't you need it?" Rose asked.

"Another will form within two days," she said. "Now, if you want to see me, I will be here every night at eleven o'clock and every morning at four. If you want to see me, come then. But you must hurry. Classes will be starting soon, and I don't want my friends in trouble."

Max, Rose, and Olivia hurried to the surface. The gillyweed was finished, and Rose gasped in shock as the freezing snow engulfed her knees and an unforgiving wind froze her wet clothes.

It took ten minutes to find their clothes and dress.

"What happened down there?" Al asked, as he chattered his teeth and tried to warm his hands by the fire Rose had made to followed them.

"You tell us," said Olivia. "Why did your gillyweed not last and ours did?"

Al didn't say anything for a moment. Each word and intake of breath was painful. "I don't know," he said finally.

"You're a horrible liar, Al," said Max.

Albus glanced at them who were all glaring. He sighed and pulled from his pocket, half a strand of gillyweed.

"You didn't take it all?" Rose asked.

"I wanted to save it," Al confessed. "so that I could speak to Stella."

Rose felt sorry for him. Not only because he had almost died being a hopeless romantic, but because he will never remember his first kiss.

They had no time to change into something that wasn't wet or freezing before class. Max and Rose skidded into Defense Against the Dark Arts and sat stiff and freezing in their second-row seats. The entire class turned to look at them, and Professor Dalbert seemed to forget about the Knarl chewing on his sleeve aggressively. True, both Gryffindors were soaked to the bone, hyperventilating, and their hair was iced over in peculiar styles but other than that, Rose didn't know why they were staring.


	21. Feigning Fine

Albus had not been joking when telling Stella that he would work harder than he ever had before on Sugamina. Weeks were spent with their noses in books, studying not school, but animagi. Little was available on the subject in the open library. Rose reckoned that the more helpful books would be in the restricted section only open to the older students.

Olivia worked as hard as anyone. Rose's hair was in a ball atop her head, having now given up on trying to tame it. Al removed is glasses to rub his eyes before replacing them upon his nose and hurrying through the novel as though he were on a time limit. Max had stopped trying to convince them that what they were doing was wrong and now didn't even seem to disapprove of the matter as he had become slightly more interested in at least trying with transfiguration. Scorpius hadn't changed in his manner or in the way he studied.

"Al, calm down," said Rose, closing ' _Check Before You Wreck; Transfiguration'_ and replacing it upon its shelf.

"I can't calm down," Al replied looking as though he hadn't slept a wink since the gillyweed. "Every minute I waste up here is another minute she's sleeping in a mausoleum."

Albus' obsession was tottering on less than interest and fascination, but more on feelings he seemed to have. Rose thought this as least, though the idea was absurd. Worse for them all was that three had Quidditch practice every other morning. Breakfast in the stands looked more like a library. The food was still brought and set up by the time the Gryffindor Quidditch team streaked to a halt in the stands, but around Scor, Max, Al, and Olivia who had joined them, the area resembled more of a library.

"What's all this?" asked Ishmael Stewart the first practice after the Holidays.

"Exams," Max replied. "Worried sick."

"Exams?" called Isaac Fisher incredulously. "But those are months away!"

"Procrastinate all you want, Fisher," said Scorpius, not glancing up past the pages of, ' _Mundane to Magical.'_ "But we will be enjoying the summer sun when the season arrives while all else are in the castle with quills in their hair."

The five students did visit Stella every morning and every night. The Slytherins snuck away as they always did through the broom shed, but the Gryffindors had to sneak from the window. Astronomy lessons had entirely ceased to Max's disapproval. Instead, the Astronomy window was filled with studying for actual school. They were lagging a great deal. Professor Dalbert had called each member of 'Sugar' back after two separate lessons to have a sit down about their falling behind.

"I don't understand it," Dalbert had started to Rose and Max who were both covered in soot from a misfired burning jinx. "You two are some of my best students in your year why you're falling behind is beside me. Weasley's essay was half its usual size and six inches shorter than the required length." Rose hung her head. Dalbert sat back in his chair to look at them. "I see only one explanation." The two looked up worriedly, doubting that he could have ever found out. "The only thing that links the two courageous Gryffindors in fear and distraction. But let me ease your conscience, Belladonna is far from hurting you."

Max and Rose blinked for a moment. "We have some of the strongest Aurors the Ministry has to offer on her tail. Harry Potter himself, even Ronald Weasley has stepped back into the Ministry to find her." Rose hadn't known this. "I have even been looking into it. No one threatens my students; I was an auror back in the day too, believe it or not. I left during the turn of the Ministry back during the second wizarding war."

"I'm worried about my brother, sir," said Max, probably thinking this excuse of his mother to be an easy 'get out of trouble free card.'

Dalbert scooted his chair closer. "Let me tell you something. I once had a brother too. My twin, actually; I believe you and Will are twins also? Yes. His name was Ezra. That was us, he was Ez, and I was Ezzy. Brilliant man. Good brother. He was a metamorphmagus himself. Difficult to explain to our extensive family. Jewish they were; they didn't much approve of witchcraft."

"I thought you were a Spaniard," Rose interrupted.

"I am," he slightly smiled. "But I won't get into all that now, it's rather extensive. My brother, really, it's a rather long story, but I'll reach my point. Belladonna killed him."

The room became dark suddenly. A cloud seemed to be trying to help set the mood.

"I will not let the same thing happen to your brother, Max. Much pain it caused my family, I have been looking for her. I still don't know why she killed him, what the purpose was around it, but I will not rest until she is caught."

Rose and Max left the room feeling rather bummed. "I don't understand how that was supposed to make you feel any better about Will still being alive," said Rose as they turned down the Charms corridor.

"I think he just wanted to get the point across that he understands how I feel and that he's looking for her," Max replied, seemingly in deep thought. "But I believe that we should really focus on our studies more. Other Professors won't be so understanding."

Rose agreed with this proposal and did try harder. Library sessions were still entirely devoted to Sugamina, but as soon as the portrait shut behind them, the scramble for their school books began. They didn't seem to have time left for anything but books. They hadn't been in the gardens, nor had they seen Yoman. They didn't waltz down corridors or explore the castle as everyone else they knew did. After hours, the Gryffindor common room full of students laughing and playing exploding snap, doing pranks, or cheering with butterbeers. Rose and Max kept their heads down over their parchment so not to be trampled by the students jumping over the sofas, running from others chasing them with lizards. They were teased now for being the boring bookworms while ' _true_ ' Gryffindors took it easy and knew how to have fun. Max would glare up at them; there was a time where he was one. Rose would have to continue pulling on his sleeve and muttering, ("Ignore them.") But it wasn't easy, not even for Rose. She had less of her mother's ("Ignore them.") nature than she had her father's, ("Punch them in the face!") Though she had to focus. Their grades were raising back to the top as they were very well taking great sacrifices for even greater strides to save a young girl's life. If that wasn't Gryffindor, she didn't know what was.

The only others who weren't acting like rambunctious animals, not counting Micah Merlia, of course, was James and Tyler. They were bent low over books and parchment, with ink quills in their hand and hair. They looked exhausted as well, but nobody teased them. Everyone knew very well not to mess with these two. They both shared a short temper, and with even a point and a whisper, you would be blasted off your feet and sporting a pair of rabbit ears for a week. Matthew McHay had been proof of this.

Rose watched them with mild curiosity. Though what James and Tyler were doing was very illegal and dangerous, she couldn't help but be impressed by their ambition. She wondered if Cian Garner had any idea what her brother was up to.

"What'cha doin'?" called Max's roommate, Benjamin, leaning over the sofa to peer at their books.

Max shut his real fast. "What do you want, Ben?" he groaned.

"Don't get all testy," said Ben. "I was just gonna see if ya'll wanna'd to join our game'a pots'n hats?"

Max and Rose turned to find a group of third years and below with blindfolds and tapping their wands to each other's head, calling, "Pot!" or "Hat!"

"No thanks, Ben," Max said, turning back toward his parchment to refill his quill.

"You guys use'ta be fun," said Ben before rolling his eyes and backing away.

Max stared at his ink and tapped his quill on his leg annoyedly. Laughter sounded behind them, mixed with girly shouts, and the Flock's nightly sale of joke sweets where every buyer now used them on each other to test. Rose couldn't tell if Max wanted to join them or get away from them.

Rose looked around the room. Ben was tapping people's heads, Micah was measuring the length between his knee and his toes with a tape measure, Calvert was sketching comic strips while Hugo explained his findings behind the secret magic of Newton's Cradle, and Daniel was talking to Danielle.

"Ouch!" Max called as a pot hit him in the back of his head.

He turned abruptly to glare at the students who slowly sank to the floor as Max's hair tips started their way red.

"Max," said Rose cautiously. He took a deep breath and turned back as his red disappeared again. "Why don't we go somewhere else? Somewhere that doesn't have flying pots."

"My common room is empty," he said, shutting his notepad in his lab and collecting his papers.

Rose took an armful and turned to the outrageously immature Gryffindors who wouldn't shut up. She shook her head and made for the boy's staircase. Max common room was never quite tidy, especially Micah's corner.

Max sat cross-legged on his four-poster bed and spread his papers back out. Rose pushed an armchair over and propped her purple socks on his crimson quilt. It was much quieter in here. They heard only the rain against the window and the scratching of Winston the weasel scurrying in his cage.

"I want this to be over," Max said hopelessly, jotting down names and dates for History of Magic.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "Nobody likes History of Magic."

"No," Max corrected. "I want Stella to be human already so this will be done. I mean, it's a never-ending task. I know this needs to be done because I know we can't leave her where she is, but I also know that going the pace we are, it'll take the best of three years to riddle out the how before we even get to the do. I know it sounds selfish, it's only been two weeks, but I feel trapped."

"I'm sure it'll all work out," said Rose. She had felt the exact way and didn't have a proposition for him because she was still trying to find it on her own. "I'm sure. We're just going to have to-"

"They're getting worse," Max interrupted, now not making eye contact. Rose didn't need him to elaborate, though he did. "The nightmares, about her. But now, instead of being trapped in a chimney while she continually slaps Will, Stella is in a cage dangling above the living room, and Al is there. I call for him to get help, but he just shakes his head and shoves books and papers into my arms telling me that if I don't turn her into a human and get her out, then I will be stuck in the chimney forever. Then I hear Professor Dalbert coming by floo, and I'm still stuck. There's a flash of green flame then-" he paused with a wary glance at Rose who was listening horrified. "Then I hear you scream and I wake." He allowed himself a small, nervous laugh. "I swear, twice I almost jumped from bed to run to your common room with my wand."

Rose didn't find this at all funny. His were much worse than hers consisting of her sitting in the mausoleum, buried waist high in papers and books as a giant clock ticked before her, counting the time she had left to save Stella before she was executed for conversing with humans. All the while, each Professor stared down at her with pocket watches in their hands, when she was suddenly on that rock, with her exams before her, but the giant Stella clock hadn't stopped ticking either. She scrambled around between Stella and her studies, then realized that she was late for the last Quidditch match of the season. Rocky shows up and tells her that she's off the team and that Danielle must take her place. The ticking becomes louder and louder as the Professors threaten her with detention and expulsion and failing grades. The ticking becomes agonizing. Rose covers her ears as a flash of green flames engulfs her, and a high, cold laugh reaches her ears, and her papers go flying, all with a huge red 'T' for troll. Then she wakes, sweating and gasping.

"We need a lead," she said at last.

"Is that not what we've been looking for all this time?" Max said in exasperation, falling back onto his quilt and pulling a box cutter from under his pillow.

"I've been working on how to do it ourselves," said Rose.

"Not me." Max began carving at scribbles on his bed post. "I've been looking in the discreet places, people who have become animagi, those who've tried, and people who are trying. I've ransacked James and Tyler's dorm; they have nothing lying about regarding their pursuit. What time is it?" he asked, still laying upside down to carve.

Rose rolled her eyes as he still refused to get his own watch. "Twenty past nine," she replied.

Max yawned and sat up. "I need to take a shower before Micah gets up here. You know him, lather, rinse, repeat, repeat, repeat." He threw his tie on his bed and started at his buttons as he shut the bathroom door behind him.

After having no control to snoop through the sparkly stuff around Micah's drawers, and after being rather impressed at how good Calvert's illustrations were and amazed at how many muggle comics he had in boxes under his bed, Rose fell backward onto Max's. For some odd reason, she could no longer study without him being there, as though his presence was crucial to her focus when he should very well be a distraction. Rose reached up and absentmindedly picked at the carvings on his bed post. She reached quickly away when one of them had given her a splinter. Rose turned to look. She suddenly furrowed her eyebrows and started perplexed at the words.

The largest carving showed three letters which together read, 'Max,' the others around it 'Prongs,' Moony,' 'Padfoot,' and 'Wormtail.' Rose jumped to her knees at the sight. These names she recondited from the Marauders Map, these were the legendary Marauders. Prongs was James Potter senior, Albus' grandfather. Padfoot was Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather. Moony was Remus Lupin, Teddy's father. And Wormtail was Peter, he was in no way related to them nor did they speak of the traitor who was responsible for the Potter's death in Godric's Hollow. But why would Max have written those names here? She didn't even think he had noticed them from the Marauders map and when referring to them, nobody used these nicknames. Rose stroked the carving more carefully now to be sure of no more splinters. But these looked older. The words had been painted over unlike Max's. He couldn't have possibly carved them. That would mean that these carvings would have had to be carved by the Marauders themselves!

What was the chance that her best friend is assigned the same room that once belonged to the core of everything the Weasley-Potter family is built upon? The largest word besides Max's name was Prongs. She gave a small laugh. And what is the chance that he gets the bed that belonged to James Potter senior? She grinned broadly and stood from the bed to look around the room. She was suddenly much more interested in this dorm. After all, the Marauders were illegal animagi themselves. Rose glanced under tables and beds. She was looking for maybe a note, pictures, more carvings. Anything she could show her Uncle. James was his father, and she thought he would pleased to find some lost treasure of his father's.

She examined the other bedposts and dresser drawers. She slid under chairs and checked door frames. Rose was just in the middle of bouncing on a squeaky floorboard when Max came through the door in his striped pajamas and a toothbrush in his mouth.

"Rose, what are you doing?" he asked through a mouthful of foam.

"This board is squeaky," she mumbled, still bouncing.

"You're bleeding," he noticed, pulling the toothbrush from his mouth.

Rose glanced at her finger which had a drop of blood dangling from the end.

"Hold on." Max went to the bathroom sink, spit, then returned to take her hand. He wiped the blood before putting is mouth to her finger and drawing back a moment later with a shard of wood between his teeth. "My Lord," he exclaimed, removing the splinter. "That's massive. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said, checking the wound. She wasn't new to splinters anyway. "It was your bed post. Do you never get splinters from it?"

"It doesn't matter if I do," he replied, now drying his hair with his towel. "My body pushes them back out."

"Right," she mumbled again, then suddenly remembered. "Max! Did you know that this room once belonged to the Marauders? Al's grandad and Teddy's father and Harry's godfather!"

Max looked around, mildly interested. "Was it really? Huh, what are the odds? Why are you still bouncing?"

"I'm looking for clues," she replied.

"For Sugamina?"

"No, for the Marauders! Don't you think it's weird that this board squeaks when all the rest don't?"

"That board has always squeaked. And this castle is thousands of years old and had been through a war; I'd expect we'd have a few wary boards," he replied.

"But there is two feet of stone directly below the floor!" she said. Rose reached down and stripped away the shag rug. Only the dusty wood floor lay beneath. She was slightly disappointed. "Never mind."

The dormitory door swung open, and Micah Merlia followed by Daniel walked in, sniggering. Micah stopped smiling and dropped his yarn which rolled across the floor when seeing Rose.

"Hey Posy!" he called, then turned red in the face. "I mean Rose!"

"Posy is his nickname for you," Max rolled his eyes and plopped on his bed.

Micah glared. Rose took the fallen yarn and handed it back to him.

"I should get to bed now," she said, collecting her own books and starting for the door. "Good night." Rose accidentally grazed Micah's arm as she passed.

"She touched me!" Micah screeched as she turned down the hall but not near far enough to be out of earshot.

"Calm down, won't you?" she heard Max say. "It's just Rosie."

"You're hopeless," said Daniel.

Rose fell back in her bed, exhausted. Something tickly stroked her nose, and she opened her eyes to see the squashed face of Mary's owl, Cromwell. He had a handful of letters clamped in his beak.

"He's been carrying those all day," groaned Sydricwolfredmarybeth Pye, Mary for short, from her bed across the room. "I can't get him to drop it, have fun if you want."

"May I have those letters Cromwell?" she asked kindly. The owl placed the letters by her face and hooted merrily. Mary snorted slightly. Flipping the stack over, she found that they were addressed to her. Of course, she hadn't been at breakfast because she and Max had sat through Stella's morning English lesson. She hadn't been around to receive the morning post.

One letter was from her parents, one from Harry and Ginny, one from the Scamander boys, and one from Teddy. She opened and read her parent's usual greeting, questions, and farewells. Harry and Ginny had sent a letter saying hello, then asking about Al because he hadn't been writing as often. Harry put in that he expects he's probably just getting older and is making new friends, so he doesn't have much time on his hands. Teddy's was asking how's she's been and asking questions about Hagrid. He said that Hagrid wrote a while ago to check on him and stated that he had been feeling rather lonely lately and was wanting a new pet. Teddy wrote, afraid that Hagrid will try for a dragon or giant spider. The Scamander twins' letter was slightly more interesting. They had sent a converse card that was like a howler but which doesn't yell.

 _'_ _Hey Rose,'_

It read.

 _'_ _Sorry I couldn't write, but the Tebo's got my quill. Lorcan is trying to get it back. Oi! Careful!_

 _'_ _He doesn't mean haaaaarm!' Lorcan cried from a distance away._

 _'_ _I mean you! Don't hurt him! Sorry, mom's off giving a report on her book to a few Ministry whatevers. Dad's upstairs. Uh, no I don't think merpeople have magical abilities besides the fact that they are magical beasts. I don't reckon there's anything I could tell you that you won't be able to find in a book. But I suppose, hypothetically speaking, as you have repeatedly insisted, if the human that the merperson mated with to keep from devolving had magical abilities, it is possible that the hypothetical mermaid could have magical powers if hypothetically turned human. That it, if the human doesn't have an extensive line of squibs in their heritage. You may want to check that out._

 _Rose, I don't know what you're doing, but be careful. The Ministry is becoming much stricter when referring to magical beast's life. They're becoming rarer. I know you're not a very hypothetical person. You're much more a doer. I haven't known you be a philosopher. You're more of an explorer._

 _'_ _Lysander! Get your butt over here to help before I send the murtlap on you! You said it would only be a minute!'_

 _'_ _Ugh, I have to go. Anyway, I'll be at Hogwarts next year, Perhaps Lorcan and I can help with your hypothetical mission. Bye! Oh God! Lorcan! Why didn't you tell me it had your leg?'_

 _'_ _It didn't mean to! Get 'em! You were using dad's quill, remember?'_

 _'_ _Come 'er! Ow! It's got me!'_

 _'_ _I'll get dad!'_

 _'_ _Don't you dare!'_

Lysander had forgotten to shut off the converse card. Therefore, Rose had eleven minutes of screaming to listen to considering she couldn't shut it off until it was finished.

Rose scribbled back a few replies, not being too detailed because she was tired and greatly looking forward to sleep.

 _'_ _Dear mom and dad,'_

She wrote.

 _'_ _I'm doing well thanks. Studies have gotten more complicated since after the Holidays as I expected they would. Quidditch is still good, dad. Yes, beater is tiring though I've gained a substantial amount of muscle since I took the position. Scorpius is fitting in well with the Slytherin team. He's gotten splendid, though I would appreciate if you didn't mention I said that, I reckon it would go straight to his head. I have an upcoming match against them too. Al is doing well. He's not too focused on Quidditch, though; he's been studying a lot. He's taken a sudden interest in Transfiguration. Max would do well to pick the subject up too. He still ends up in the hospital wing after nearly every class. But Al's not liking his new glasses, says there are now a lot of blind spots, and he has to get used to holding books further from his face._

 _Anyway, thanks for writing, I'll keep you updated,_

 _-Rose'_

 _'_ _Dear Harry and Ginny,_

 _I'm fine, thanks. The flash backs are getting worse but nothing I can't shake off with Quidditch. Al is doing quite well. You're right in thinking that he doesn't have a lot of time on his hands. Between Quidditch and school, he has none. Albus is doing very well in studies, especially Potions. He's the only one of us that leaves smiling because he knows he'll have the best marks, and he always does. I don't know where he gets it from. I swear, he looks just like James Potter senior in those glasses. I think he chose to go with square so that he won't be an exact replica so that he won't live in your shadow, but he looks identical to his grandad. He is making new friends. He's been hanging out with Olivia Merik. She's real cool, but I don't think anything romantic will ever spring up between them; she's way too wild. He and Scorpius are as close as ever and recently, they've been friendly to a new girl who is rather unpopular and isn't treated well by others. Good of them to take her under their wing. She's nice and spends a lot of time by the lake. Therefore, we have too. But Al's doing good._

 _I look forward to seeing you in June._

 _-Love Rose.'_

 _'_ _Dear Teddy,_

 _I'm doing well, thanks. I didn't know about Hagrid being lonely; I suppose I really should visit more often. I don't think he's taken on any new creatures, but I'll keep an eye out for you and inform you of any burst of flames or screams from inside the hut. No, I'm not getting on any better with my roommates._

 _Alexis has been really nosey lately and still thinks I like Illya Vizzini, outrageous. She's still trying to hook us up though you and I both know that the idea is absurd._

 _Pamela minds her own business and sight; she still won't tell us how she became blind._

 _Danielle continues to pester me about Max, poor thing._

 _Mary has taken up a sudden interest in my stuff. I have no proof that it's her, but I just know. I'm missing a scarf, hair ties, two pairs of socks, my lip balm, and I'm even running low on bobby pins though you know I always put them back._

 _I've tried hiding my stuff, but there's nowhere that she won't look. I know when she's there because she leaves the dresser drawer cracked open, or the blanket flipped up, or the mattress askew. I've confronted her, and she dead on denies it. But I smelled my lotion! She was wearing my lotion! How many other people wear Vanilla Bean? She leaves the bottle all sticky too._

 _The only roommate I actually like is Cromwell. You know I used to hate the stinky thing, but lately, I've found that he's rather sweet. He's bonded with me too. He insists on taking my post and wakes me every morning in time for Quidditch because I don't wake up to my watch. Mary doesn't like it. She thinks I've stolen her pet. That's why she's being so beastly I think. Maybe next year she'll be expelled for, I don't know, stealing? And I'll get someone decent. It would be nice to have a female friend in Gryffindor. Olivia's pretty cool, but I think she's too much like me for us to be 'best friends.' I wouldn't be able to stand myself. How Max does is beyond me._

 _He's doing well too. No sign of you-know-her, but I don't know if that's good or bad. I sound stupid, I know. But the further she is away from us, away from hurting him, the further Will is away too. I can't tell whether I want her near so Will can be saved, or if I want her blasted to kingdom come._

 _Don't let mom or dad read this, please. They wouldn't understand. I'm feigning fine, but you and I know I'm not. I'm terrified._

 _I am sorry that you were bit my a Malaclaw. Just be sure to stay in bed and not to get cocky. I know you don't believe in all that luck stuff, but this is proven fact by Newt Scamander. Hope you can get back to work at the Magical Menagerie as soon as possible as I know you love it. And good luck on that promotion which is thankfully two weeks away; the Malaclaw venom will be out of your system by then. But don't worry about the pain, Victoire will take good care of you, I'm sure.'_

She drew a little winky face here.

 _'_ _But I must go. Love you, Teddy,_

 _-Love, Rosie.'_

Rose dropped her quill to shake a cramp from her hand then continued.

 _'_ _Dear Lysander or Lorcan,_

 _Thanks for the info. Professor Dalbert wanted a report on an impossible feat of magic, so you understand, all hypothetical. You really have inherited your parent's brains and will become just as renown as they are, I'm sure. See you two next semester._

 _Love, Rosie._

 _Ps. You left the card on for eleven minutes after you were finished. You should get that bite looked at immediately and buy your dad a new quill before he missed his old one._

 _Pps. Stop bringing dangerous animals into your basement.'_

Rose sighed, tied up her letters, and after checking to be sure Mary was asleep, she handed them to Cromwell who hopped excitedly, flew to the window, lifted the lock himself, and dove out into the rain seeming happier than ever.

She reached into her bedside cabinet to retrieve a bandage for her splinter gash. Silently cursing Mary as her drawer was no longer neat and now ransacked, she pulled the tape from the band-aid and looked for the wound. Maybe it was the low candle light, but she couldn't find it. The cut was missing. Rose laid back in her bed, being too tired to care much about her healing, and hoped that she would get a quiet night with no nightmares and no ticking. She thought about Max and hoped he would sleep soundly too. Rose closed her eyes and the ticking began.


	22. Albus Dies

The upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was much anticipated by the entire school. To everyone else, this was the most gruesome match between the two most violent rivals. For Rose, this was the first time she got to fly with one of her best friends. She had never competed against Scorpius, so she didn't know how he played. Albus was finding this more brutal and intense training that Slytherin Quidditch captain, Keith, was putting on them to be an inconvenience rather than necessary. Scorpius was taking it hard physically. He was lolling on the library tables with his arms by his side like a zombie, being so sore he couldn't move them.

"Scor?" Rose said tenderly.

"Uuugghh?" he moaned.

"You should go to bed. I'll finish up your History of Magic essay."

Scorpius was waving his quill lazily above his parchment without touching the paper. "Nah," he groaned, lifting his head so that his chin rested on his books to get a look at his progress. "I'm nearly finished, and the Slytherin stairs are so far away. I think I'll just kip under the table tonight."

"Oh, no you won't!" barked the ancient librarian, Madam Pence who looked as though she and Filtch both broke out of a museum. "I'm not levitating your corpse to bed, oh no sir! You'll use your legs! Be grateful while you still have some that work." She snorted and turned back to dusting.

Scorpius looked up in disbelief. "Does no one get a joke these days?"

A strapping young man turned the corner. He was the new librarian who did more of the heavy lifting, the sorting of the books, the cleaning up after sloppy students. "Sorry 'bout her," he said. "Doesn't like children. Never had some of her own."

Rose had tried to be as understanding to Scorpius as she could. Her friends had been too kind to her when she was incapable of movement last school year because of rough Quidditch practices. Albus didn't seem affected at all, which greatly bother Scorpius. He was bustling around books in a manner of a lunatic.

"How are you not writhing in pain?" Scor asked.

"I don't have time for pain," said Albus.

Max raised his eyebrow impressively, and Olivia slightly laughed as she paced the room with books in her arms; she never studied sitting down.

Albus dropped a thick and immensely dusty book over the rest of papers and quills the others had out. There was a small 'pop' that was Scorpius' ink bottle shattered atop his History of Magic essay. Rose considered saying that she warned him not to put his ink on top of his paper, but then she thought it wouldn't be such a good idea that his time and by the look on Scor' s face. Al grazed the page, shut the book, and replaced it on the shelf now with a large ink stain on the cover. He scribbled something down in his back-pocket book and grinned broadly.

"I've been researching this for weeks!" he exclaimed, placing his notebook on the table so the others could openly stare. Along the page was hand-drawn pictures of wand movements, feature changes, and Stella. "Weldon Eshable!" He pointed the title of his page.

"I recognize that name," Rose thought allowed.

"He's been mentioned briefly in a handful of our studies," Al said quickly. "I've been watching for him and have collected everything I know in here. The man is a bit of a nutter. He believed his pets, and every other animal for that matter were just humans trapped in beast bodies. But that's not important. What's important, is that he tried to change them back!"

Sugar leaned in closely to listen.

"I've found that he was the first ever to attempt reverse animagi, sort of. He did it all wrong. Weldon didn't quite have Animagus in mind; he was kind of just shooting counter spells at them. But he did get a bunny to have a human nose by means of a mending spell. That book just there!" He jabbed at the large dusty book. "That holds a copy of his journal entries regarding his experiments."

"How have we not come across it before?" asked Olivia.

"It was in the restricted section," Al replied.

"How did you get it?" Rose looked amazed.

"Garren fetched it for me."

"Who's Garren?"

Al pointed at the new librarian who put a finger to his lips mysteriously and shrunk behind a shelve.

"I'll be here all night," said Al, leaving his notebook to examine the larger one. "This is the break I've been looking for!"

"What happened to him?" Max asked.

"Hm?"

"To Weldon Eshable? Where is he now?"

"Oh, uh," Al looked hesitant and shifty. "Eh, you know, the usual, Azkaban," he coughed.

"The prison Azkaban?" Rose exclaimed. "Why?"

"Nothing big really," Al tottered. "He was just sent for animal cruelty, use of Animagus magic without a permit, and failed illegal experimentation." Al scratched his head and turned quickly as though the matter was over.

"You mean-!" Rose started, then lowered her voice with a wary glance around. "You're saying he was sent to prison for exactly what we're doing now?"

"Pff," Al turned, waving her question away as if it were an irksome fly. "No, no, no, we're not Weldon, we're going to do it right and not get caught." He turned quickly back toward the book and begun copying its contents down.

"Well," said Max briskly, standing to his feet. "That's enough terrifying prospects for one night. I'm going to bed. Rosie?" He reached out a hand.

Rose took it and left the library with her books in her arm and a worried look at Al who was crouched over a second table. His hair was messier than usual, his tie askew, and his eyes red and puffy from lack of sleep.

"Come on, Scor," said Olivia, helping him to his feet.

"I'm okay," he said.

Olivia laughed. "Don't worry, I'll take it slow, and we'll do something about your essay in the common room."

"Don't stay up too late, Al," Scorpius called backward before turning front and whispering. "He's mad, he is. Poor lad."

Albus Potter poured over the colossal book for over an hour and a half longer. His hand was sore from scribbling in his notepad, and his eyes were burning from sleep and the flickering light. Something touched him on the shoulder that made Al jump backward and point his quill as though it were a sword.

"Woah there, tiger," Garren laughed, pushing Al's hand back. "Lights out is in fifteen minutes. It's best you get to your common room. And I can't leave this book out forever. Madam Pence will notice."

Al looked regrettably back at the book. There was so much left that he needed.

"I'll fetch it again for you tomorrow," Garren said encouragingly, slapping Al on the back and walking him to the exit. "But as I recall, you are a Slytherin seeker? Yeah, best get your sleep, you have a match in a couple of days."

Al slouched through the corridor and down his first flight of stairs. He felt terrible, but he also felt defeated. He had done so little today - no major breakthroughs; Weldon Eshable won't help them too much. Not even his friends found anything useful. And how come they seemed so put out by this whole thing? Did they not realize that they're noble in a task bigger than themselves? They acted as though Stella was an inconvenience. Even Scorpius who had been with him from the beginning and had been thrilled when the extra Transfiguration studies started was now lollygagging in work and interest. He had been doing most of the work and still it wasn't enough. He was so far from reaching Sugamina.

Al ruffled his black hair and straightened his glasses as he reached the Slytherin interest.

"Malikmelum," he yawned.

The stone wall slid aside to allow him in. The common room was rather full of students, some of which who were in the loft playing card games and a few unfriendly faces were making it rain on the students below who were studying.

"Parkinson, you prat!" they called as they tried desperately to gather their now soaked school papers and shake their fists at Poppy and the Salazar's who were dangling over the balcony, laughing at the chaos they cause. Al rubbed his eyes and looked up.

"Parkinson, stop the rain or I'll have no choice but to curse you!" Al called, not at all feeling up to fighting or dueling.

Poppy spit at him but missed.

"Parkinson!" Olivia called, now joining Al. "I don't want to curse you right now. I'm tired. Please stop being a brat."

There was the sound of a thunder clap and the rain split into two clouds that hovered above only Albus and Olivia. Albus would have been rather impressed by the magic if he wasn't so pissed off. He and Olivia glanced at each other, rolled their eyes and retrieved their wands.

"Woah now!" The rain stopped as Poppy's wand fell to the floor with a slight rattle. Sixth year, Keith, had just come up behind Poppy and took her by the arms.

"Oi!" called Fraunk, turning with his wand and baring his crooked little teeth.

The entire Slytherin Quidditch team stood now in defense of their captain, readying for a fight. Fraunk sized them up and seeing as his chances of winning were seven to one, but lowered his wand with a Chihuahua type growl.

"Get off me!" Poppy yanked her arms away and thundered down from the loft.

Keith leaned over the balcony rail. "Really?" he said allowed, with the attention of the whole of his house. "she is a twelve-year-old girl, and no one stands up to her except a couple of second years? I'm rather embarrassed by you all right now." He finished that sentence as though he were about to dive into an exquisite inspirational speech, but he simply shook his head and walked away.

Murmuring began again as the Slytherins gathered up their drenched items and made for their dorms. Slytherins are usually night owls, but no one felt too keen on sitting on the soaked sofas. Nobody except first year, Ili McDodge, who was rolling around on the bear skin rug laughing, "It feels so weird!"

"I'm going to shower now, I suppose," said Olivia, ringing out her long straight hair. "Please get to bed, Al. You look awful."

But Albus didn't get to bed. He paced the room until Ili McDodge had all the fun he could, and left the common room. Al eyed the mantel serpent. He could sneak out to visit Stella, and no one would know. But he's never gone without Scorpius before. Even still, he had to see her.

Albus made sure that he was alone before pulling a chair to the open mouth of the snake and reaching far into its throat to pull at a knot in a crack at the back of its tongue. There was a hissing like steam from a train as the mouth opened further and the tongue laid flat to reveal a whole big enough for a small person to enter. Al took the serpent by the pointed fangs and heaved himself into the mouth, for the first time showing how badly Quidditch practice had gotten to him though he tried to hide it. He slid on his belly the rest of the way down until he met an incline in the tunnel so small that he had to crawl.

Albus ignored how cold the stone walls and floor were as he had to travel on his knees for a near mile and a half. The trip was long and wearisome; it always seemed a lot shorter when he had Scor to talk to. Al finally pushed up on a wooden door above his head. A crash came that was the broomsticks falling over. Albus rolled his eyes and climbed from the trap door. Just like Gryffindors to leave the brooms out of their place. He quickly fitted them into their proper positions before closing the trapped door and leaving the broom shed with his head low.

The wind blew cold against his face and Al dreaded the upcoming Quidditch match as he knew the speed to take would freeze his body and mind. He also remembered that he had forgotten his coat. Al pulled his arms from his cloak sleeves and used it as a blanket that hung from his shoulders. He lit his wand tip and used it to navigate over the muddy slopes to the lake's edge.

"OI!"

Albus dropped to his stomach across the slushy ground without thinking. Hagrid's cabin wasn't far away, and it was clear by the deep shout that the giant still stirred. More sounds of scurrying, glass breaking, and shouting came from the cabin.

"Hey! Get off that! Down! I said Down!"

Al, not wanting to be seen, snuffed out his light and army crawled until the hut was out of sight. He stood and turned his nose up to the large stain from the ground now on his not so white shirt. An unforgiving wind ruffled his wet clothes to send a chill up Al's spine. He trotted over stumps and skipped down the stone pathway until he reached a point he had to go off the path. A near half mile he walked as he had hundreds of times before. Down a stone bank, almost like a rock climb, he had to hoist himself down close to seven feet before he was able to slide through the mud and stop before tall lake weeds. These were just a distance from where they usually met Stella, but that entrance was within Hagrid's vision. It didn't matter where he chose now; she wasn't going to be there. She was off the clock.

Al took a deep breath and sat at the lake's edge, caring not about the mud or his pants cleanliness. He pulled off his shoes and socks to dip his toes into the freezing water, though the edge of the lake only down the bank was thawing. The water was freezing and caused his entire body to tense in initial shock. He took a deep breath and pulled from his pocket, a small tin can. Within was a pathetic half of a gillyweed submersed in a quarter inch of poppulaunt fat to keep it from drying out.

He lifted the weed onto his two fingers. Should he save it longer? He stared at the icy surface of the lake, and the black waved stabbing needles at his toes. What was the reason to go down there and speak to Stella except for the sake of speaking to her? It was taking him a lot longer to make up his mind than he wanted it to. Albus stood quickly and practically ran into the freezing water before his brain could notice the temperature and force him to go back. He flicked on his wand, took a deep breath of air that stung his lungs, and he dove. His body felt hot the water was so cold. A tingling sensation and stinging were overwhelming including the feeling of thousands of needles pricking his body until he went numb and was losing control of his motions. Every stroke deeper and further was agonizing and weak. He swam until he could no longer hold his breath, and forced the gillyweed down his throat. It took fifteen seconds before anything happened. Fifteen seconds that he was thrashing around, unable to breathe, but too far to go back. A familiar pain struck his neck along with tickling between his fingers and toes, while feeling came back to his skin and the water became comfortable.

Al took a deep gulp of oxygen that went straight to his head. He wasted no time admiring the underwater kelp or clams or strangely blue lobster, having been used to these elements through his window. He took a burst of speed, knowing that half a stem of gillyweed wasn't enough to get him from the surface to the mausoleum. He wasted no time. Albus truly hoped that because he started closer up the bank and had swum around fifty feet without gillyweed, that he would make it.

It didn't take him long to find the sand bank that announced the entrance to the tunnel under a large stretch of stone over the lake floor. He had been traveling to this cave every night in his dreams since he first visited. The clam lips scratch at his arms and face as he neared his destination. The stone walls began to close; it was here that a horrifying stabbing began. A stabbing at his neck and a tickling between his toes and fingers. Al pushed as vigorously as he could through the passage. He knew freedom was ten feet out and eight feet up. If he could only make it. The clams sliced still deeper as he thrashed about. His fear and claustrophobia were causing him to hyperventilate and release great breaths of greatly needed oxygen.

Al raised a hand to his neck; nothing was there. He was out of time and out of gills. He had no more air left to hold between his cheeks, and he felt his head become light. His temples were throbbing, and his chest was becoming tight. _Maybe._ He thought. _Maybe just further._

As though he couldn't be more terrified, he found that he could no longer move forward. He was stuck though the walls were separating. With a couple frantic jerks, he realized that he had forgotten to leave his tie which was now snagged on Merlin knows what. It became too late. He pulled frantically against the silk which was tightening around his throat. He pulled… and pulled…. And pulled until a muffled ripping sounded and he was thrown backward due to the force he was giving against. Al felt the walls around him give way, and he saw a faint orange flickering rippling above as he sank. He had no strength or oxygen to kick upward. But he had to. He couldn't die. Al tried as hard as he could, but no matter how severely he told his legs to kick or his arms to paddle, they simply lay limp by his side as the orange flickering grew smaller.

He hit something firm and blinked find that he was amongst bones of not only squid but merpeople. Though he laid on a ledge, inside an underwater cave, amongst bones in a mausoleum, he wasn't too afraid. He truly felt that he was okay. Was this him complying to death? Or did he know he wasn't going to die?

Albus sighed and closed his eyes.

Al gasped heavily and opened his eyes. As though he were shocked awake, he lay face down on something soft. Albus slowly sat up. But, this didn't make any sense. He was just in the water, just next to skeletons, now he was – Al looked around again – he didn't know. What seemed like cloud lay under him though he couldn't physically feel anything under his feet. White remained all around him. He was… in the sky? On a very cloudy day without rain? No. He still had the sensation that he was in the water. Moving his head to looked to the right, he found that his hair swayed above him as though he really were still in water. But he could breathe. _How peculiar._

Albus was beginning to feel frantic. He didn't know where he was, when he was, or how to get back. But did he want to get back? He would wake on the edge of a cliff underwater.

Al took his billowing black hair in his fists. Something caught the corner of his eyes as did his ears. A faint whispering was coming from a small clan of people a great distance away. Al turned his head. Were they perhaps lost like him?

"Hello?" he called. The whispering stopped.

Al squinted to see their faces, but he didn't have his glasses; he could see no more than shapely blobs. He could tell that the group were people, not just people, wizards. Most of them wore robes. Two people stood in the front. A woman with shoulder-length red hair and a man, tall with jet black hair that didn't look tidy. Around them, was a man with long black hair and a red trench coat. Then a man in a sweater with his arm around a woman with pink hair. Then there was another tall red head, a slumped man, a very tall man with long white hair and beard, and a white owl that landed neatly on the slumped man's staff he was holding.

How curious. They were staring at him. Albus felt warm looking at them all but truly wished that they would help him rather than watching. He felt strongly toward the two in the front. The messy black-haired man and the pretty red-head. Perhaps…

"Mom? Dad!" Albus called, finally making his way toward them. He faltered a moment as he felt he was moving, not physically, but through the watery sensation around him. He continued forward. "Mom! Dad!" he called again. But the further he walked, the further they seemed to become. Though they weren't getting any closer, many more figures appeared from the mist. More black haired people, an elf, elders, teenagers, people of every sort. Filled with a sudden desire to join them though he wasn't even sure he knew the people despite calling two of them his parents; that part felt right. Al broke into a sprint.

"Stop!" called one of the distant voices. Al obeyed. "Don't come any closer, sweetheart!" It was the red-headed woman speaking. That wasn't his mother's voice.

"But I want to meet you!" he called.

"You mustn't," she called back.

"Why not? Who are you?" he was becoming angry as he felt now that he was laying down on something hard, though only air remained behind him.

"You know us," she replied. She didn't have to yell for her voice to travel. It was sweet and comforting. "It is not your time, brave Albus."

"What do you mean it's not my-" he gasped suddenly as the air knocked out of him though he was not forced back. A terrible pain hit his chest as though he had just been punched. "What's happening?" he called, as he was hit again.

"You're not ready," said the man who did not sound like Harry but who had the same fluctuation. Though Al didn't notice; he was examining his chest as a reddish-purple welt was rising from within. "What do I do!" he shouted in fear.

"Close your eyes, Albus," called the woman. "Relax."

The option sounded absurd; he was being pounded in some life. Though, he felt compelled to listen. Al blinked a couple times before gripping his chest in pain as another pound hammered and he closed his eyes. Almost immediately, he felt drowsy. Albus fell backward slowly with the sensation of rising.

An owl screeched and its claws wrapped around Al's arm. He opened his eyes slightly as he fell/rose gradually. "Hedwig?" he whispered, then he blacked out.

Albus sprang up from the ground as water leaped from his mouth. He rolled over onto his side to spit great springs of green lake water from his lungs and onto the mysterious rock he was sitting on. He looked up. Stella was perched on the rock with him, her small fist poised in the air. He suddenly felt a great pain in his chest and ripped open his shirt to find a red welt with purple specks over his heart. He looked dumbstruck at Stella.

"Albus Potter, you fool! What were you thinking?" she gurgled with tears in her huge eyes.

"What happened?" he gasped.

Stella's anger melted away as she looked sadly at him. "Your heart stopped jumping," she said.

"I died?" he asked awestruck.

"What were you doing here?" she hurried. "I wouldn't have even seen you down there if you weren't holding your wand light!"

"I wanted to see you," he said, his experience in the clouds slipping from his memory as though it were a dream.

"I, am not worth death," she said sniffy, replacing Al's square glasses back onto his face.

"I'm sorry, Stella," Al bowed his head, dismayed that he disappointed her.

Stella sighed. "You scare me, Albus Potter. Do not try to visit me. I come to you."

Albus forgot why he had come down in the first place.

"Albus Potter," Stella started. "I thought it was death's grip, but you look terrible, truly." She placed her cold, wet hands beside his face to examine it thoroughly. "Have you been ill?"

"No!" Al said, suddenly excited. "I've been up for days studying for you! I found him! Weldon Eshable! And I know what wand core we need for it to be performed; unfortunately, none of us have it. I probably just look bad because of Quidditch. It's been brutal with all else that's going on. I'm probably going to quit. But I think we're really gaining some headway! Everyone else is working hard too. We stay up all hours of the night!"

Al's explanation didn't seem to please Stella as he thought it would. She remained staring at him with furrowed eyebrows, though she had none.

"You have suffered so badly for me?" she asked slowly.

"No, no!" Al called quickly. "I'm not suffering! I'm really enjoying myself!"

Stella smiled slightly. "You're horrible liar, Albus Potter." She looked suddenly grim. "But I'm not worth all of your struggles."

Al took her hand quickly. "You're worth every second I spend in the library and more." He said earnestly. "You don't deserve is to be hurt by others for being spectacular, and you don't deserve sleeping in a tomb."

Stella pulled her hand from his. "I am okay in here," she said. "I am not being hurt when I am in here. I have plenty of clams and wet books that you have brought me. I study my English and vocabulary in here, and I can sing all I want. I am okay. Who's not okay, is you, Albus Potter. What hurts is watching you throw away your life for me. You are losing your friends, and your grades, and your Quidditch, and that hurts."

Al stared, perplexed. "But… don't you want to be human? Don't you want to leave here?"

"In due time," she replied. "I want you to forget about me."

"What! No way!" he called, standing to his feet to cross his arms and turn his back on her.

"Not forever," she said. "I want you to have the fun that a twelve-year-old boy needs. Forget about me for only a little while."

Al sighed and turned toward her. "I can't, Stella," he said, croaky.

Stella smiled and shook her head so that her light green hair fell back into her face.

"I can't relax or have fun if I know you're here!" he called, gesturing angrily toward the damp walls and the overall dreary interior.

"And I feel the same," she cried suddenly, which made Al jump as her voice echoed off the stone walls. "How do you think I feel knowing that my best friend is throwing his life away? How does poor Scorp feel? Your Flower? Mass? I cannot rest knowing that you're unhappy. I want you to play Quidditch and like it. I want you to do potions and relax your tense muscles. I want you to smile more and comb your hair down; you've been grabbing it more. I want you to ease up on your friends. I want you to write home often, and tease your brother more. I want you to eat your fair portion of sweets and not harbor your share for me. I want you to forget about me for a little white. Do this for me, Albus Potter."

Al glared at the crustacean scurrying across his cold feet. "A day," he mumbled consent.

"Three," Stella demanded.

"Three days?" Al spat. Stella widened her eyes threateningly. "Fine."

"Seven," she said, crossing her arms.

"What?"

"Seven days."

"But we agreed on three!"

"Seven! The seven!" she said sternly. "Or the deals off."

"There was no deal!"

"A week!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"I'm not!"

"I said! Seven!"

"Three!"

"Seven!"

"Four days!"

"Seven!"

"Five!"

"Seven!"

"I'm not going any higher than five!"

"Six and a half!"

"Okay."

"Plus, twelve hours!"

"Fine!"

"Which makes seven!"

Al glared at Stella's triumphant grin, then began to laugh himself.

"You're getting better," he said. "It's annoying."

"You must get home," she smiled, tugging on Al's pant leg indicating that he should get in the water.

Albus scooted into the freezing depths and shuttered. He now realized, he had no way of getting back.

"Stella!" he said suddenly. "I don't have any more gillyweed!"

"I will give you my air, but you must not waste any, or there will not be enough."

"Your air?" Albus asked curiously.

"As I did last time," she said, drawing closer.

Al backed away slightly as she drew straight against him. The water no longer felt cold but was rather hot as were Al's ears.

"Uh, Stella? What are you-"

Stella leaned forward abruptly causing her lip to graze his before he jerked away.

"What are you doing?" he asked, now defiantly sure the water was getting very warm.

"I am not kissing," she laughed. "You humans. I am giving you my air so you can get home. Don't squirm and don't open your mouth when I finish."

She leaned close again. _As she did last time?_ Al thought. Surely, he would have remembered her doing this. Her lips, which were surprisingly warm, pressed against his and he felt for a moment as though he were becoming lightheaded again. He closed his eyes because she was. Suddenly, air was being passed to him. He had an excess of oxygen in his mouth. For a long time, she remained still with her mouth on his, until she finally pulled away. Al didn't realize his eyes were still closed before he shot them open. Maybe his face was as red as it felt because Stella smiled and rolled her eyes before taking his hand and zooming from the cave.

She was acting as an engine and flew through the water quicker than Olivia with flippers. She knew where she was going. The air in Al's mouth felt like his own, as though he were simply holding his breath though he was able to keep the air in his mouth for much longer than he could ever do alone. Stella stopped suddenly which yanked on Al's arm. She was looking to the surface. Al did the same. A faint blue light shone through the ice. Maybe it was the moon, maybe not. She smiled, and pushed Al upward, waving sweetly at him as he kicked the rest of the way to the surface. Just before his head emerged, he glanced back as her silver tail whipped out of sight.

Al emerged from the water and took a breath, finding his footing against the sand and silted stone. He was staring down as a splashing noise sounded close. Al looked up as a strong force hit him in the chest, and he was thrown backward into the water.

Al struggled and slipped back to his feet before glaring up, flabbergasted at a ferocious, looking Scorpius who was waste deep in the ice water and didn't seem fazed by the cold nor by his Quidditch soreness.

"YOU IDIOT!" he bellowed, pushing Al back into the water before taking him by the sleeves to hoist him out again. "WHY WOULD YOU DISAPPEAR INTO THE LAKE WITHOUT TELLING ME, YOU BASTARD!" He let go causing Al to fall back again.

Albus, pissed off and perplexed at the same time, stood to his feet and slapped Scorpius' arms away that may have been helping him up or trying to push him down.

"ENOUGH!" Al called, spitting water.

"YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME! I know half a gillyweed won't last! You could have died, and I would have never known it!"

"Get off me!" Al called, stomping from the lake.

"Why didn't you tell me where you were going?"

"I- I don't know," Al mumbled, ringing out his shirt.

"You don't know!" Scor snapped. "I was one floor below! You couldn't have popped by to mention that you were leaving?

'Hey Scor, I'm going to the lake with half a gillyweed.'"

He mocked Al's voice.

"'I don't think that's a good idea, Al. You'll die on the way. How 'bout we nip to Professor Killpii's cupboard and nick some tomorrow?'

'Hey, good idea friend who I trust. That'll keep me from dying.'"

"Well, I'm not dead!" Al spit then was shocked to find that he had been pulled into an intense hug.

Scorpius held him close and muttered.

"Thank Merlin, you stupid, stupid person."

Albus suddenly felt less angry toward his friend but touched that he had worried Scorpius so much.

Scor took him by the arm to keep him from slipping anymore as they made their way toward the bank.

Another wand tip illuminated getting closer from a distance. Olivia was striding over quickly, looking liable to explode. She marched straight up to the two and before either of them could say anything, she hit Al in the chest with less force than Scorpius had but which surprisingly hurt much more, like being jabbed hard with the butt of a walking stick.

Albus fell into the ice lake again, and Scor pulled him back up.

"Olivia," Scorpius tried.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she called. "The gillyweed would never last! How could you be so stupid?" she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

Al was beyond words. _What was with people?_ Olivia pulled away and hit him once more for good measure.

"How did you guys know-" he started.

"Olivia saw you leaving," Scor replied, handing Al his cloak that he had left in the slush. "She had to stay behind to obliviate a few people who had seen me climb through the serpent. We went through hell trying to get here. I had to stun another of Filtch's cats."

"What in the world were you thinking?" Olivia asked, with her arms crossed in front of her.

"I'm going to take it slow on Sugamina," he replied slowly. The others stared at him. "Just for a week. A little breathing room I think would be good for us."

Scorpius was in the shower as Al tucked under his silk bedspread, now clean and freshly shampooed. He thought about all that happened and a faint voice rose from his memory, " _It's not your time, brave Albus._ " He had no idea where that voice came from. As he finally dozed, exhausted and sore, he touched a hand to his mouth gently and smiled.


	23. The Marauder's Secret, part one

_Knock, knock, knock_.

Rose opened one of her eyes to peek at her door and wondered who was behind it. _Nobody in this hallway knocks._ The door creaked open to emit Max. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"Well," he said, looking around. "This place is a sty."

Rose scowled and pointed at Mary who was sleeping on a pile of soiled linens and garbage. She stretched, then sat up from bed and propped her head on her elbow where she blinked back into sleep.

"Oh, no," Max shook his head, striding into the room and lifting her out of bed. "Rocky has given me instructions to get you up. You have a Quidditch match, remember?"

Rose stood straight abruptly. "That's not until tomorrow!" she said hurriedly.

"Yeah," Max shrugged. "Apparently, Madam Hooch's fives that looked like a lightning bolt on the schedule were actually fours. Your game is on the fourteenth, not fifteenth. She came running into the common room frantically shouting at Fred and Roxanne for not having the commentator's box ready. So, we have twenty minutes."

Rose leaped from his arms to dig through her stuff in a mad haste.

Rose ran into the bathroom to burst out two minutes later in her white blouse and skirt. She slipped her arms through her sleeves and began at her tie as Max came behind her talking non-stop though she caught none of it. She hardly felt him pull her hair up into a bun and tie it off. He pulled her pins from his mouth to hold her curls back as she finally finished with her tie and spun around to find her shoes. Max was holding up her red rubber rain boots.

"No, Max. I need my school shoes." She continued rummaging around and bent to look under her bed.

She felt two firm hands take her by the arms and hoist her back to her feet. Max held up the boots again with a kind smile.

"It rained all last night. You need these unless you want to be ankle deep in mud."

He set them on the floor where Rose jumped into the boots and took for the door. Max followed briskly behind her with his arms behind his back quite composedly. Rose smiled to herself with a backward glance at him. There was a time where he was a complete grouch in the morning. He would have bags under his eyes, his hair wouldn't be combed, and his tie would be askew. It was now that he woke her, perfectly cheerful and collected.

"Wait," she thought as they exited the common room. "How did you get up the stairs?"

"I hitched a ride with Dominique," he replied, taking her by the sleeve to avoid her colliding with the suit of armor she was about to crash into.

"Am I the last one?" she asked.

"To get to the changing rooms? Nah, James was asleep under the couch last I saw; you'll be fine."

Max was right about the rainboots. As soon as she stepped from the castle and onto the grounds, her feet sank into the squelching mud. The clouds were thick though the hidden sun was burning their eyes. A light sprinkle was still trickling from above. She stomped through the soggy ground, trying to make it to the Quidditch pitch in time and wishing that she hadn't left her broom all the way in the shed. Her stomach growled, and she threw her arms over it to muffle any sound and ignore how hungry she was. She thought it best not mention anything to Max; she was afraid he would try'n run back to fetch her food. He was always so helpful, especially when it came to Quidditch and it sometimes made her feel sorry.

"Al and Scorpius have breakfast ready in the changing rooms," said Max as though he could read her mind.

"That's peculiar," she thought allowed. "They haven't been about this early in a while."

"Apparently," he started mysteriously. "They're taking a break."

"From what?"

"From you know what."

"But they can't!" Rose stopped suddenly and almost fell forward as her foot was still caught in the mud. Max grabbed her by the hood and held her back from falling. "Sugamina isn't a backburner deal!"

"Don't you think it would be good for Al, though? He needs to breathe. Just think, we could have him back for a little while."

Rose thought for a moment as Max pushed her on. It would be nice to have her cousin back and to maybe speak about classes, or Quidditch, or cooking once again.

The Quidditch stands were filling with students, most of which looked ruffled or tired, a couple were even still in their pajamas. None of them looked too pleased about having to get up early, unexpectedly.

From a good distance away, the smell of bacon, grits, biscuits, and sausage wafted from the Gryffindor dressing rooms. It was like magic to open the curtains from the cold damp outside to be hit suddenly with warmth and fresh breakfast which was all laid neatly across the benches. A few Gryffindor players sat on the floor to eat or drink from their goblets, a few more were by the lockers, pulling on capes and lacing up boots. Albus and Scorpius sat on either side of the bench unoccupied with food. They were in their green Quidditch robes and looking, for the first time in weeks, well rested.

"Ah!" cried Rocky excitedly. "There you are, Weasley! Now we just need Potter. Quick, take a seat, eat something."

"Morning," said Albus casually.

This shouldn't have been anything, but she missed her cousin saying good morning. Usually, his morning greetings consisted of, " _Hey! Guess what!_ " or " _Look what I found!_ " or " _Come on! There's no time to waste!_ " This simple greeting did much to improve her mood. Rose took to the changing room rather than sitting for a bite. She pulled on her uniform, fitted into a turtle neck, laced up her boots, and strapped on her gloves. Rose was tying the front on her cape when she emerged.

"We have three minutes before we have to be out there!" Rocky called. "So, for Merlin's sake, eat something, Weasley! Max, please find James!"

Albus looked at his day light dali. Both he and Scor had the same watch and were finally learning to read it well.

"Yeah, we best be getting to our side of the pitch," said Scor.

The two boys stood to stretch, took a muffin in their mouths, and high-fived the team on the way out, all calling good luck and well wished to their opponents.

"Thanks for the food!" called Watson Trout. "You guys are life savers!"

"We know," waved Al before giving Rose a friendly salute.

This small meeting with Scor and Al lifted her spirits a great deal. They were back! Just for a moment! But why had they decided to take a break on Sugamina? That part wasn't like Albus at all.

"Come on, Weasley!" Rose blinked to find that the Gryffindor team was lining up at the tent flaps. The commentary had begun. Fred and Roxanne were having their usual fun staging fake advertising sponsors like in a muggle baseball tournament while everyone waited for the final touches to be ready.

"And finally," called Fred as his voice echoed around the stadium. "Let's have a great round of applause to our generous sponsor that made this all possible, Wepton Window Wipers. (So quick, you'll forget they're even on)!" To Rose's amusement, the crowd actually cheered. She knew less than half of them even knew what window wipers were.

"That concludes the sponsors!" called Roxy. "We have our okay to begin! First, we have the ever so swift, ever so clever, Slytherins Serpents!" The green side of the pitch erupted with cheers and booms and shouts. A few from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff clapped too as the Slytherin team emerged from their tent.

Rose was watching through the crack in the curtain from under Isaac's arm. Albus and Scorpius was third and forth in the lineup. They looked rather posh and relaxed. She was surprised to see Scorpius so composed; this was his first ever match.

"Next!" called Roxy. "Little introduction be needed for the bold, the competitive, Gryffindor lions!"

More screams and applauds met them as they strode onto the soggy ground, but looking around, James was still absent. Rose was truly wishing she had gone back to fetch him from under the sofa, but at the time, she thought it to be humorous, but it was not funny now. The two teams stood parallel to each other. Beaters parallel to beater, chasers to chasers, seeker to seeker, and keeper to… the Slytherin keeper, Paul Keith, was staring confusedly at no one. He glanced at Rocky and shook his head in question. Rocky didn't return the glance. He was staring directly at Albus Potter, sweating badly. Al mouthed for him to take a deep breath, which was wise, he was turning purple.

"Mount your-" Madam Hooch started, then stopped suddenly. She strode to the other side of the lineup and stared at the absence of James. "Where's your keeper, Rockward!" she barked.

"He's coming," Rocky croaked.

Madam Hooch stepped closer and lowered her voice. "Rockward, you know I can't postpone the game pass its scheduled time. If your keeper doesn't show, you will have to play without him, and we both know what that means."

"He's coming," Rocky tried again.

"We must begin," Madam Hooch whispered. "The clock starts on its scheduled time, and I can't stop it." Many murmurs and pointing were coming from the stands. She placed her wand to her throat and opened her mouth to announce the start of game.

"Madam Hooch!" called Isaac desperately. "I love your hair! Did you do something new to it?" he referee narrowed her yellow hock eyes at him. "You didn't spike it up differently? Or… in the back?"

"Staling will do you no good, Fisher." She put her wand back to her throat. "I would like to direct your attention," she started to the crowds, her voice magnified to a hundred times its usual volume and echoing around the stadium. "To- the Gryffindor keeper!" she screeched excitedly as James and Max came running onto the pitch.

James gasped and clutched his chest as he slid through the mud to stand before Paul Keith.

"Good of you to come," Rose heard Keith say. "It'll make it a fair game."

James looked terrible. He had bags under his eyes, and his hair was sticking up on one side and flat on the next. He resembled like a drunk who had found little sleep. Max skidded beside him with James' cape and slung it over his shoulders. James' boots were unlaced, and one of his gloves were on backward.

Madam Hooch shook her head and pressed her wand to her throat for the third time. "Players! Mount your brooms!" she called. The two teams did as she instructed and rose into the air.

The wood suitcase that she had by her side sprung open with a wave of her wand. 'click' she released the bludgers which zoomed into the air and readied to cause pain. 'click' she released the snitch that whizzed up and out of sight in a flash of gold; both seekers stared at where it had gone. Then, one, two, three, Madam Hooch threw the last red leather ball into the air which Ishmael snatched immediately, and the game begun.

'WHACK!' Rose hit a bludger away from Enoc and toward Olive Farmore. It was difficult to resist the urge to hit the bludgers away from Al and Scor. She didn't want them in any pain either. But she luckily wasn't forced to aim the pain balls at them, that was left to Enoc who didn't enjoy it either.

'WHAM!' Scorpius was hit in the back while he was swatting the second bludger away from Alexander Pepsy.

Rose clutched her bat tighter and hopped that it would only leave a bruise. Funny, she thought, was the idea of Scorpius being a beater when he vomits at the sight of blood.

"Andersen passes to Alexander who passes to Olive, who- Oh! Drops the quaffle while dodging a bludger! Retrieved by Isaac who passes to Watson who shoots and- blocked by Keith!" Roxy spit out as quick as she could.

"Fifteen minutes into the game and we still have zero to zero!" Fred called. "Perhaps the teams have been focusing too much time on their defense! What do you think, Roxy?"

"Let me tell you, Fred, I can't tell if I am getting bored or overly intrigued by such occurrences!"

Rose was getting bored. She, of course, was still on her toes all throughout the game, swatting at budgers and likely saving lives in the process. It was a feeling similar to when you're a cashier at a grocery store during Christmas rush. You are bored out of your mind but are also constantly on your toes and incredibly busy. Twice, she felt the snitch zoom by her ear. Once, she was nearly knocked off her broom, as both seekers dove for it.

A loud crack filled the stadium as Scorpius hit a bludger away from Rose. She spun to look at him.

"Just this once, Weasley!" he called impressively, leaning back on his broom. He yelped and rolled over because of a bludger that she had just hit at him, accidently, really. "He straightened up and looked at her, shocked. "So, that's how you wanna play?" he smiled maliciously.

Rose was about to apologize, but instead, she smirked back. And so, their game begun. Perhaps it was selfish that they were leaving the protection of six other team members to Enoc and Michael, but the thought left her head as they found that it was just the two of them in the sky. Well, the two of them plus two bludgers. She swung her bat around in her hand and whipped it at Scorpius to dodged and reciprocated. The ball caught her broom tail causing a great many pieces of twig to fly from and to the ground.

She laughed. "Miss fire, Malfoy!"

Little attention was given to the rest of the match nor to the leader board. They smirked and fought each other as though they were in third grade. Max was her best friend, Al was like her brother, but Scorpius had a way of making her forget about school or work and simply making her feel carefree.

The cold wind swept her hair from Max's bun as she slapped Scorpius on the back of the head before speeding away laughing. He called her surname before chasing after her. Suddenly, a noise ripped through the fun in the sound a screaming.

Rose spun around as quick as she could to see with horror, Rocky right on the golden snitch and with a bludger on his tail and nearing his head.

"WEASLEY!" he bellowed.

Rose was so startled that she almost dropped her bat before zooming after her captain. She zoomed after the bludger, her bun almost completely fallen in her face. By the time the wind blew the last curl from her eyes, she SLAMMED into something solid. Zeak Andersen bellowed as he dropped the quaffle and Rose's apology was lost halfway from her mouth as it was replaced by a gasp. She spun around. Her bat was falling to the ground with the red leather ball, but unlike the quaffle, her bat was not retrieved by Isaac.

"WEASLEY! GET THIS THING OFF ME!" Rocky bellowed.

There was no time to head back. Rose whisked toward her captain, bat-less. _What in the world was she going to do without a bat?_ Enoc was protecting James mostly as was their plan. She neared the bludger that was now scraping Rocky's robes. She wished she didn't gain so fast; she had no time to decide what to do.

Rose was within arm distance from the bludger. Albus was zooming from the other side of the pitch, having just noticed that Rocky had the snitch practically in his palm. She reached out a hand – not enough – both hands. _What would Fred and George do?_ She thought about her predecessor beaters and came up with only one conclusion. The commentary box was booming, and she heard her name but listened to no more.

With both arms outstretched, going the same speed as the bludger, she placed her hands beside the ball and felt it whizzing on under her light touch. With one deep breath and little time left to think because Al was practically there – this whole idea happened within four seconds – she clutched the ball and pulled it to her chest.

It was painful. The ball screeched and fought, trying its utmost to free itself from her firm grip. It pounded against her chest and sliced her fingers as it spun. A loud whistle blew announcing the win of the game. Rose glanced up, her hair now hanging back in her face because, being stationary, she didn't have the wind keeping it back. Slowly, and as carefully as she could, Rose glided to the ground. The bludger seekers who took to the air at the end of every game to round up the two crazy balls stared around with one bludger frozen in the air. Rose whistled. The B.S's glanced down where she nodded to the squirming rock in her arms. The two Bludger seeker streaked down and pulled the ball from her.

"Dear Merlin," one of them said. "Never touch a bludger! How did you hold it for so long?"

Rose shook her head, utterly perplexed. _Was that unordinary?_ The second B.S walked away with the first, shaking his head as though she were mad.

"Where the hell were you!" Rose cringed, this was expected. She turned with her arms pressed tightly in a cross against her chest. Enoc was striding toward her, red-faced, sweating profusely, bleeding in some areas, and looking like an enraged wolverine.

"I-" she thought. She had excuse. _I was playing with Scorpius?_ Of course, she couldn't say that! "I'm sorry, Enoc," she bowed her head.

"Sorry?" he bellowed. "Look what happened!" he pointed to a figure that was being magically placed on a stretcher.

It was Ishmael Stewart. Rose gasped. "I was chasing after Watson's! He was on your side of the field and had the quaffle too!"

Rose tried to conceal the tears of guilt rolling down her face; she didn't want to cry in front of all these guys. A small commotion caught her attention. She looked toward Ishmael to see that he was fighting Abigail, the healer apprentice, as she tried to calm him down.

"I'm fine!" he called. "Get off me! I can walk!" he rolled off the stretcher and quickly limped from the young matron with a backward glance as though she were crazy. "Healers," he mumbled angrily. "They'll do anything to get you on one of those if it means breaking your leg themselves."

"Ishmael," Rose cried, with glistens of water welling in her eyes. "I am so sorry! I was supposed to be protecting you, and I wasn't! I'm not making excuses; it was all-"

"Shut your tiny mouth!" Ishmael interrupted making everyone silent. "And show me your hands."

Rose was confused. She did not reveal her fingers which were still clasped in crossed arms. Ishmael took her hands and forcefully revealed them. She was surprised herself. Her finger tips were raw and bleeding. The palms of her hands were red, and the first layer of skin was peeling away. Even her forearms that Ishmael had forced her sleeves from were purple with bruises and speckled with blood.

Ishmael looked at her sadly, then raised her arm to face the rest of the team. He brandished her wounds as though they were guilty.

"Did you miss what she did?" he called.

"No, I was too busy saving all your necks!" Enoc called.

"What in the world happened there?" asked Watson.

"She caught the bludger, in her arms because she lost her bat, you idiots!" Ishmael hollered. "Here you are accusing and belittling her when this, rather small, second-year girl just preformed the most spectacular feat known to beaters! Now you can shut up, Enoc. I understand you're angry but what I saw from laying on the pitch," he looked at Rose admiringly. "That was something else."

"Uh, I caught to snitch," said Rocky after a moment of silence.

Rose almost laughed. She, and everyone else, had forgotten about this matter and their win to the game. Everyone cheered and clapped their captain on the back.

"What's the score?" Watson asked, turning to the score board.

They all stared incredulously. Slytherin zero to Gryffindor one-hundred-fifty.

 _Had nobody scored a single goal?_ Her attention was captured now, by the Slytherin team on the ground. The greater part of them looked angry while they scorned Scorpius. Though, for being a slightly tender boy who strived to please, he didn't look put off. Scor glanced across the pitch and caught her eye, then winked.

"Well," started James as they made their way from the pitch to the common room, not bothering to change. "Considering that there are no more Gryffindors in the stands, halls, or outside, I advise you all to prepare for an afterparty."

He was quite right. As soon as the password was mumbled, " _Victory,_ " and the portrait swung open nearly each of them were attacked by banners and cheers and congratulations. All except for Rose who was instead, attacked by an owl. Cromwell came sweeping from nowhere and landed on her shoulder to snuggle her face. In his beak, he held a single letter.

"May I have that, Cromwell?" The owl dropped the note into her palm and hooted merrily.

She turned it over. It was from Teddy. Rather early for a reply, but she expected that he was likely bored out of his mind in bed because of the Malaclaw bite. Max had just climbed through the portrait hole holding an armful of butterbeers which were immediately snatched from his arms to be placed on the food table where they wouldn't remain for long. Rose sat on the couch and ignored the many pats on the head and slaps on the back; there was no way to get them to stop anyway. She tore open the envelope and read,

" _Dear Rosie,_

 _Sorry to hear about your roommates; Mary sounds awful. Pity you weren't in Hufflepuff. My mates were the best! As for getting her to stop taking your stuff, you'll need to hide them. I'm sure you've thought of that option before, but few people know or even have what I'm about to tell you. Some common rooms have trapped doors under the floor boards. They're put there from past Hogwarts students who also wanted a place to put their stuff. You have to use a spell to see them. 'Revelio' is probably a safe bet. I'm not sure whether yours has one; I don't reckon that the past girls would have made a secret door, but it never hurts to check. And if you find that you don't, you can always build one. It's not too easy, but I expect it'll be worth it as long as Mary doesn't see or know._

 _Anyway, I hope you're well. Good luck on the Quidditch match if my letter arrives before you play and don't rub your win in Al's face._

 _-Love, Teddy."_

Rose smiled at the letter and tucked it into her pocket. Trapped doors, now that was a fun idea. She took a butterbeer and popped off the top. Maybe she should check, the idea was ringing at her and Mary was currently trying to get a game of limbo going. Rose took a swig of butterbeer before handing it to Hugo and rushing up her steps. The girl's hallway was completely deserted. She strode into her dormitory and glanced around. Well, the middle of the floor beneath the carpet was the only area eligible for a trap door that she could get to over all her roommate's junk. She unconcernedly kicked clothes and scrap jewelry from the round shag carpet before throwing it up to stare at blank wood flooring. She paused for a moment as she got major déjà vu. Why did this feel so familiar? The carpet fell from her hands as she suddenly remembered.

Rose ran down the stairs as quick as she could and pushed past people who were trying to ask her questions about her bludger catch.

"MAX!" she screamed over the noise.

Max, who had been by the food table, jumped so hard that he sloshed butterbeer down his front. He looked at the stain irritably and exasperated. Rose took him by the hand and drug him through the crowd with a faint sound of glass breaking which was probably the bottle she made him drop.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she pulled him up the stairs.

"I received a letter!" she called excitedly. "The floor bored is squeaky! I'm not crazy!" she laughed.

"Wanna bet?" said Max under his breath, though there was no mistaking a pinch of amusement at her antics.

She turned up the boys' staircase and dashed down the hall to burst into Max's dormitory. Calvert, who was on his bed drawing, glanced up at them and shut his book while rolling his eyes.

"I'm leaving," he grunted, standing up and striding toward the door. "I reckon things are about to get weird. They always seem to with you guys," he added under his breath.

Rose flung the rug from the floor to be thrown across the room. Max watched with his hands casually in his pockets. He didn't try to stop her anymore. Not when she got like this. Rose groped for her wand before remembering that she was in her Quidditch robes and did not have it.

"Max, use your wand to reveal!"

Max seemed rather confused but did as he was told. He pulled his wand from his back pocket and cleared his throat before saying "Revelio," and waving the wand above the floor.

For a moment, nothing happened. Until a faint creaking grew louder, like a door that hasn't been open in several years. Max leaned closer to watch four lines appear across the wood floor, slowly stretching until they met their parallel partners and made a square. With another 'click' an iron pull ring joined the party. Max backed toward the door and locked it.

Rose's heart leaped with glee. She found it! She knelt to her knees with Max who was doing the same.

"You open it, it's your room," she said.

"No, you found it, and it's your family heritage. The Marauders for Heaven's sake, you open it."

She secretly hoped that he would refuse so she could do the honors. Rose took the iron pull ring and forced it up abruptly, but it wouldn't budge. She tried again, nothing.

"Do you think it could have been protected by other magic?" she asked.

"Nah," Max replied, taking the knob with her and standing. "I just think it hasn't been open in a very long time."

Together, they heaved with extraneous force on the warped door before, with a little more than a 'pop,' the door flung open, knocking the both of them off their feet. Rose laughed slightly and crawled forward, almost afraid to see what's inside. She wrapped her fingers over the mouth of the opening and peered in.

Hey, guys, this was such a long chapter that I was forced to split it in half. Thank you!


	24. The Marauder's Secret, part two

Part two of chapter twenty-three!

What lay before her was a gouge, not very neat, in the stone. It looked as though someone had taken two square feet of the rock that lay beneath them and yanked it out. Inside the cave, were five boxes. One was wood and warped with a thin chain and lock around its diameter, its lid askew. The other was plastic and sealed. The next was ceramic cream with a top that fit neatly atop. Another was also wood, painted with sparks and flames. The last was hardly a box, it was a tin can with no lid and no organization; the contents of the metal container were spilling out or looked to have been thrown inside without care. Around the five boxes were things like papers, a few books, small trinkets, and snack items.

Rose's heart was pounding in her throat, she hardly knew where to start. If there wasn't a Gryffindor party raging below, she would have fetched Al, but there was no way to get him in and out of the tower without everyone seeing. Rose started with the wooden box.

"Alohomora!" she called, pointing Max's wand at the small lock. Nothing happened. "Bombarda!" The small explosion did nothing to the box. "Incendio!"

"Give it here," said Max, taking the wood container. He examined it for a moment.

Faced with the sudden fear that he was about to do something brash, she called, "Please don't hurt it!"

Max looked at her and laughed. "Says the girl who just tried to blow it up."

"Are you going to pick the lock?" she asked, just now remembering that he could.

"No, it's too old to pick. The spells on it are strong, but the lock itself is about at its end." He stepped before his side table and brought the box down hard against it. The lock hit the side of the table and snapped off. "There you go," he smiled, handing it to her.

The compartment contained photos and scrolls of paper. But what struck her attention was the word carved into the belly of the lid. It read, _James Potter._ This belonged to Harry Potter's father when he was in school. She contemplated continuing with it. Finding that she did not have the strength or the patience to wait, she lifted the contents out.

Though she was not biologically related to any of the Marauders, she found that tears were itching in her eyes as she flipped through scraps from someone who was as good as family. The photos caught her attention beyond anything else. She saw an image of James Potter in his square glasses and messy hair, crooked tie and confidant grin. This photo was moving as they always did. James, who couldn't be more than thirteen in this photo and looked remarkably like Albus, was leaning against a familiar third floor window pane. He smiled and waved at Rose then beckoned someone forward. Another boy, thirteen with a handsome face and curly black hair strode into frame with his hands in his pockets the same way Max did. Sirius Black, nodded curtly then winked at her. She continued to the next photo. Peter Pettigrew was laughing hysterically as James ran in and out of frame in his Quidditch robes as Sirius chased him with what looked to be something big and fleshy, like an organ. Another photo showed Remus, only fifteen, lounging in Rose's favorite squashy armchair by the fire. He was wearing a thick beige sweater and had tea beside him. The next photo was of a girl, a very beautiful girl at that. She had auburn hair in a ponytail and bright green eyes. She was fourteen and looked to be studying with the end of a quill in her mouth. Six more photos in the stack were of only this girl. The scraps of paper which were also in the box were poems and love letters all referring to a Lily. They were quite terrible and Rose thought it wise that they were locked in this box and never sent. They ended with things such as, " _I suck at rhymes so end this torture and please be mine._ "

The next boxes also had names carved inside of them. The plastic one had a sicker which read, " _Peter._ " The ceramic one was Remus Lupin's, the tin can belonged to Sirius Black, and the painted box had the word, " _Ezzy._ " carved into it. Rose assumed that Ezzy was the fifth roommate but not a Marauder. She wondered why that name sounded so familiar. The other boxes held notes, letters from home, photos, newspaper clippings, and small things like rings or coins.

Max was rummaging through the surrounding items and had pulled forth enough food to last a month. "And most of these things are nonperishable!" he said.

Small trinkets that Rose had never seen before whizzed to life and journals and diaries lay flat on the stone. It was truly a magical feeling. She had just discovered a treasure beyond money. Max pulled forth a photo album. Rose climbed over the threshold to sit beside her friend and see the pictures. The binding of the book cracked as it was opened. Rose's mouth fell open. It was a goldmine of memories. Images lined the pages. Quidditch matches, James' failed attempts to woo Lily, Sirius when he first bought his flying motorbike, the Marauders grinning with butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks, the shrieking shack, the whomping willow, the Marauders in Animagus form with Remus atop a stag, Lily when she became their friend, chess tournaments in which she always won. Rose wiped a tear from her eye. There was a photo of a mouse in a birthday hat and tutus, a dog running across the Hogwarts grounds in fall, Lily hanging from the tree that Rose and her friends study under. Lily was laughing as James tried to kiss her and in another, she was chasing him with eggs as James ran away laughing. Rose wondered what incredible stories lay behind some of these photos.

"But," she said at last. "If all the Marauders are here, then who took the photo? Lily didn't know about their transformation at that time, so it wasn't her. And she and all the rest are in that picture."

Max pulled one of the images from its slot and flipped it over. A thin scribble was across the back with the date.

"What does that say?" she asked, squinting to read the swirly signature.

The doorknob to Max's room began jiggling. "Oi!" they heard someone call. "Why if this door locked? Who's in there?" It was Daniel trying to get in. But he couldn't see this.

"Don't come in; I'm naked!" Max called unconcernedly, trying to read the signature.

"That's a 'z' isn't it?" Rose asked quietly a while later, but not quietly enough.

"It that Rose?" Daniel called from the other side. "Vlad, why's she in there if you're naked? What's going on?"

"Go away, Daniel!" Max called angrily.

There was a muttering as footsteps grew fainter.

"What kind of rumors is he going to spread?" asked Rose.

"Nothing I haven't heard before," Max muttered.

"Those are 'z's,'" said Rose. "Two of them, this must be Ezzy!" she scowled slightly. "I know I've heard that name before."

Max thought. "You know, me too."

Rose turned the page. "Who's that?" she asked, pointing at a fourth-year boy who was laughing as the Sirius and James ruffled him with pats on the back and a rat sat on his shoulder. "Do you reckon Remus is taking the photo?" she asked, but didn't need a response, she had already decided that it was. The boy in the photo had black curly hair, bright blue eyes and resembled Sirius. "It could be Regulus Black," she thought aloud. "No," she decided. "Regulus was younger and the brothers didn't like each other, so who?"

"It's Ezzy," said Max. "See? That's my window they're standing in front of. They're in this room so that boy must be the fifth roommate, Ezzy."

The familiarity in the boy was somewhat making her sick. She knew that she knew him, but she had no idea how or where from. She recognized the name and now even the face was familiar. Rose took the photo from its place and flipped it over. Words were written on the back in handwriting Rose recognized as Remus' from his letters in his box.

' _Celebrating the fourteenth birthday of Ezekiel Dalbert. Happy Birthday mate, thanks for being such a trustworthy friend.'_

Rose froze. She jumped into the air and waved the photo, unsure whether she was amazed, happy, or angry. "Ezzy!" she called. "He was Ezekiel Dalbert!"

"You mean Professor Dalbert?" Max asked, amazed and also standing.

"Professor Dalbert was the fifth roommate of the Marauders!"

"But," Max thought. "It can't be. Surely, he would have mentioned something to you. And Dalbert isn't such an uncommon name."

"Yes, it is!" she argued. "And think about it, it's so obvious! Everything lines up! He's a Professor at Hogwarts, we know he was once in Gryffindor, his age line up with being eleven the same year the Marauders were, and his name is Ezekiel while his brother was Ezra! Don't you remember? He said that he and his brother were called Ez and Ezzy! This is him!" she shook the photo again.

Max was blinking. "Well, it does add up."

Rose turned to the door and swung it open.

"Where are you going?" Max called.

"To get Al, then to meet Ezzy!"

Max grabbed the photo album, shoved everything they had rummaged through back into the cave and shut it. As soon as the lip was down, the iron pull ring disappeared along with the lines of the door. Max ran after his friend with the book under his arm.

It took a while to get through the crowds of Gryffindor and Danielle who had 'fallen' on top of him and began blurting airy apologies as she continued to hang from his shoulders. Max had to push her off and physically hand her to Enoc Hubert who had just turned to ask where Rose was. He left the common room feeling violated as usual after encountering Danielle. The halls were half full of students none of which were Gryffindor. Hufflepuffs waltzed down corridors adjusting their buttons and hats to be sure they don't get cold on the way outside, a group of Ravenclaws sat on a bench in the hall to practice the violin as two more painted them doing it, a few Slytherins sat lazily on banisters and watched him run by.

Max swung himself down steps six at a time to meet her at the Slytherin entrance, wondering how in the world she was going to get in to find Al and wondered if he and Scor were even in their common room. Then he thought they probably were considering they wouldn't be by the lake with Stella.

"Stop!" Max almost fell over so not to trample Louis who had just jumped out from behind a tapestry with his camera around his neck and looking frantic. "Where is it!" he screeched, falling to his hands and knees to look closely at the floor.

"What did I step on?" Max asked hurriedly, backing away and praying to Merlin that he didn't kill anything.

"Where is it?" Prefect Abercrombie Boot came streaking around the corner with a small glass of water.

"Tinkerbell over hear stepped on it," Louis assumed.

"No I- hey!" Abercrombie, or Abe, ripped Max's shoe straight off his foot. On the sole was a small pathetically squished daisy.

"Are you serious!" Max called angrily. "It's a flower? I thought I killed something!"

"You did!" called Abe. "The miracle of life! This little weed found its way through stone to get a breath of fresh air and see the sun, and we didn't even get the picture."

"No, no, wait!" Louis took Max's shoe and set it on the ground. "This is even better. The decay of life and destruction of beauty." Louis snapped a few photos with his camera. "Now for the destroyer of all things pure." He faced his camera toward Max. "Smile!"

"Why?"

Louis lowered his camera looking sad. "That's a horrible outlook on life."

Max rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this!" He snatched his shoe and took off again. Rose's family was a little insane sometimes.

"She went through there." Max stopped again to see a fourth-year Slytherin resting on his knees with a book open on his lap. "That girl you're always chasing after, she dived behind that tapestry."

"Thanks," Max muttered. He jumped behind the tapestry and lit his wand to see through a passage and down a concealed staircase. What was she planning on doing once meeting Dalbert, or Ezzy? That sounded weird. A respected and responsible Professor with a name like Ezzy? And what was she going to say to Al to justify rummaging through his heritage without him? Max was lost in thought and didn't notice the solid wall before him, but it wasn't solid wall, he fell through it like the brick divider at platform 9 ¾. Lucky, something squashy broke his fall with a curse word and a squeak. Max rolled off Rose who had been bulldozed to the floor.

"I'm sorry!" he hurried, helping her to her feet.

"No, just help me get through this wall," she said, rubbing her hand across a blank stone wall. They both knew that this wall was the entrance to the Slytherin common room having walked their friends here many times before. "I've tried all the passwords I could think of," she said discouragingly.

"Have you tried knocking?" Max suggested.

"Walls too thick," she replied backing to stare at the stone with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, you can't get in." Rose and Max both jumped to see Slytherin prefect, Kade Noir, standing behind them with a cup of coffee, black, and also staring at the wall. "I'm not saying you don't have the ability," he enlightened after taking a sip of the bitter drink. "I'm just saying that if you waltz in, you'll be killed. Standing behind enemy line, you are. Not a great number of people in there like your lot."

"I just need to see Albus," said Rose desperately.

"The Potter boy?" asked Kade. "Good for you then, they're outside. Weren't bundled up real well for being in the snow, though."

"Thank you!" said Rose earnestly. "Come on, Max!"

"It'll be quicker this way," he said, starting toward the stone wall that he had exited from. Rose snapped at him to stop then covered her mouth to stifle laughter as Max walked head-on into solid wall.

"It's only open from the other side," she giggled.

"Yeah, I got that," said Max, holding his nose in pain, his eyes watering.

Rose took him by the arm and pulled him the long way up thirteen staircases. " _Nutters,"_ they heard Kade mumble.

"They're in the gardens," said Rose.

"That's obvious," Max agreed, checking his hand for blood.

"Are you alright?" she asked, now looking back at him slightly worried.

"I'll live," he replied. "It'll be healed within the hour anyway."

Cold air stung their lungs as they stepped into the January snow. They weren't dressed for winter anyway. It had been over a month since they last visited the enchanted gardens and Rose was quite looking forward to it. They walked for fifteen minutes until they were at the side of the castle where nothing was except for a large ivy-covered stone wall. Usually in winter, ivy turned brown and became ugly sticks growing over walls, but this ivy remained bright green and healthy to be thick enough to hide a concealed door; this should be the first sign of something peculiar to the smarter students. Rose clutched Ezzy's birthday photograph tighter in her hand as Max snapped the lock and swung open the door.

As usual, a waft of fresh peppers and strawberries met their senses and filled them with delight, summer, and warmth. Max closed the door behind him. House elves worked happily, harvesting vegetables, pulling up weeds, and whistling as they laid fresh soil. Rose was almost never happier than when she was in here. As usual, both she and her friend immediately removed their shoes to feel the soft green grass between their toes.

"What are you planning?" Max asked.

Rose thought that this question was odd. "I'm going to get Al so we can talk to Dalbert," she replied.

"But, what are you going to say to Professor Dalbert? How is this relevant? Why does it matter if he knew Al's grandparents?"

Rose shook her head. "You don't understand. What if you found out that someone you looked up to was once close to your-" she stopped to think. Well, he wouldn't care if he met a friend of his father's and she was sure that he would hate whoever liked his mother. "Uh, Will," she decided.

Max furrowed his eyebrows not necessarily in a scowl, but in a way that told her, he was displeased as he always was when his brother was mentioned. He often acted as though he didn't have a brother. The topic on Will was a bit depressing. Rose wished that she hadn't used that example.

"Yeah," Max muttered. "I guess I don't understand. Excuse me?" he leaned down to the height of an elf weaving baskets. "Have you seen two Slytherins here recently?"

"Oh yes, sir!" called the elf. "The Potter boy and Malfoy are at the creek."

"Thank you," Max smiled and started toward the creek. It was more of a babbling brook except it was a bit larger. Stones lay neatly across the edge and small Minos and frogs can be seen in this area. The heart of the creek was in spring. The two made their way further into the gardens to find themselves in the right season as cool, damp air hit their face. Birds chirped, frogs croaked, and blossoms bloomed. A large weeping willow with pink blossoms grew strong beside the creek over soft green grass. The sky above was blue and the clouds were white and puffy. Rose stopped to take the sight in for a moment. Max continued without noticing. He never seemed as impressed by the gardens as Rose was. Under the willow were two figures sitting by the stream. Albus kicked at the water as Scorpius took a swig of pumpkin juice from a glass bottle; he had removed his Quidditch cape but still wore his turtleneck and boot.

Rose grinned broadly and ran toward her friends.

"Boys!" she screeched.

"Rose?" asked Scorpius, standing up. She just noticed that his hair had a small curl in the front as though it were waving with age. "Are you alright? You were scorned for playing during the match too, weren't you?"

"What?" she asked, then realized that she must still have red eyes from whenever she had been crying over the Marauders. "Oh, yeah, well, sort of, but that's not important."

"Don't you guys have a victory party?" Al asked, squinting to see them through the sun which was behind Rose's head. "What are you doing wasting your time here?"

"I found something!" she called quickly. "Under Max's floor boards in his common room! We found a trapped door and look!" She thrust the photo into Al's hands. It took a moment before his eyes widened.

"But, but that's James and Sirius! And, well I'd assume that rat is Pettigrew. They hid this photograph under floorboards?"

"No, they hid a whole lot more."

Rose explained everything as they trudged back up to the castle. Al had the photo album that Max had brought and was flipping through it franticly. Whenever she told him about their findings on Dalbert, Al was so surprised that he dropped the album in a puddle.

"This is incredible," Albus muttered, flipping through the now wet book. A tear sparkled through his glasses as he stopped on a photo of Lily Potter laughing in the great hall as Sirius seemed to have pasta on his head. Rose waited for scolding about being impatient and not waiting to go through the treasure trove, but none came.

"Where do you think he is?" asked Scorpius. "Professor Dalbert I mean."

"I reckon he'll be in his office," said Max. "We have classes tomorrow, and we're getting our essays back. He's probably grading."

Rose was tired and was now noticing the soreness in her muscles from practice, the game, running up and down thirteen staircases twice, and traveling to the gardens and back. The Defense Against the Dark Arts class room door was cracked allowing Rose to throw it open. A faint growling came from Dalbert's office door across the class. It was shut, but that didn't stop Rose from swinging it open without even noticing Scorpius hands which was two inches from knocking on the door.

Professor Dalbert looked up suddenly as Rose swept in. "Weasley?" he asked in surprise. Dalbert shoved what looked like a wingless owl with six-inch fangs and completely bald, back into its cage. "Can I help you with anything?"

"You're Ezzy Dalbert," she said matter-a-factly.

"Nobody calls me Ezzy anymore," he smiled grimly.

"Since when?" she asked.

"Well, the only people who ever used that name besides my brother was-" he stopped himself hesitantly.

"The Marauders," she finished.

Dalbert shot his head up suddenly and raised an eyebrow. "How would you know-?"

Rose lifted the photo into his face. Something in his eyes flashed, whether it was happiness or the opposite, she didn't know. He slowly took it from his hands and flipped the photograph over.

He looked up at the four of them with shining eyes. "You found our safe?"


	25. Dalbert's Tale

"It's you, isn't it?" said Rose softly.

Dalbert shook his head and placed the picture on his desk. "I think you already know. I do find it curious, though," he said thoughtfully. "It's curious that you were able to open it, Miss Weasley. It is possible of course, but that safe was protected by charms, only someone of our blood could get it open. Now, if I've done my ancestor correctly, you are very distantly related to Sirius Black and-"

"You're related to the Black family?" Scorpius interrupted incredulously. "But, I'm related to the Black family!"

"Yeah, we're cousins," she said obviously.

"WHAT!" Scorpius screeched. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"I figured you knew," Rose replied slightly amused. "I guess you didn't know you were related to Teddy Lupin either, did you?"

"You mean your metamorphmagus cousin?"

"Yeah, you two are second cousins."

Scorpius fell back in Dalbert's teacher chair. "And all this time I wished to be one of you."

Rose furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Well that was fun," Dalbert said amusedly. "But as I was saying because you are related it is possible for you to open the door, but not without difficulty. Unless " he looked at Al. "Unless you invited a Slytherin in the Gryffindor common room."

Al shook his head, looking as confused as Rose was. "But sir, the spell must have been broken; Max opened the door, he revealed its secrets," she said

Professor Dalbert looked shocked. "But, I don't see how that was possible. James Potter himself placed the spell, and that boy never screwed them up."

"Sir, Professor," Albus started. "Why have we never heard of you? I don't remember any stories about your adventures and your name isn't on the marauder's map either. Were you even one of them?"

Dalbert smiled slightly. "Yes, I was a Marauder, in a way. I wasn't in the big leagues. How do I explain this? Have you kids ever watched geographic or survival shows?" Max and Scorpius were the only ones to nod. "Well, you know how there's the main character or survival guy who climbs mountains and swims down rapids and crawls through caves? Everyone sees and likes the main character, but what many fails to realize, is that the camera crew is doing it all too. The camera man who's up on the cliff with the star, he had to climb too. Being rushed down rapids, climbing through caves, but nobody knows because he's behind the picture. That was me. I documented everything. I was their eyes, ears, messenger, and cover. And to be completely honest, I wasn't bothered by not being in the light. I was in nearly all of their charades, but I was very rarely caught and almost never blamed."

"You're not in hardly any of these photos," said Al, dropping the photo album onto the desk and flipping through.

Dalbert quickly wiped his eye as a tear seemed to jump forth the second he saw that book. "Ah, this was my most precious treasure," he said, rubbing the spine. "No, Potter, I'm not in nearly any of the photos because I took them and put this book together. There were, of course, much more with me, but I was going through a bit of a self-conscious stage and didn't want to be in the pictures. I've always been a behind the scenes guy. I played bass in a band for a little while and actually graduated with a degree in journalism. That's what I did at the Ministry."

"I thought you said you were an Auror," said Max, propping himself onto the desk.

"I wasn't for a while until I got a little too close to a scene. I was in the throng when Bones Drury attacked those children. The story became much too real for me, and I couldn't watch and not interfere as my profession would require."

"What did you do?" Rose asked, leaning forward on the desk to listen.

"I dueled him. One of the most dangerous wizards after Voldemort and I defeated him. I found something in myself that day. I found my love for battle and my love for children, which is why this job is perfect for me. But Bones was locked away, and I was given honors and an opportunity to train for a position as an Auror. I loved my job. Until, of course, I had to leave."

"Sir, why aren't you on the Marauder's map?" asked Al, Scorpius was still slouching in the teacher's chair, looking as though he were in the twilight zone.

"Because I asked them not to," Dalbert replied. "They fought me about it, but I didn't want my nickname on such a dangerous artifact. I didn't want to be held responsible for it. Besides, the name 'Ursa' wasn't a very cool one."

"Better than Wormtail," Al mumbled.

"Ursa?" said Max thoughtfully. "Isn't that-"

"Why have you mentioned nothing about knowing the Marauders before?" Rose interrupted.

Dalbert looked suddenly grim and very sorrowful. "I am sorry that I never told you," he said. "That past brings forth the greatest memories and the worst feeling in the world." He looked straight at Max who was staring closely. "Some things are best forgotten; they bring too much pain."

"But if it's your greatest memories too, then shouldn't it be worth a little pain to relish in the good times?" asked Rose, not at all understanding what he was talking about.

Professor Dalbert leaned forward. "Miss Weasley, it's okay to not understand this, good even. You have been fortunate. You have a family who loves you and surrounds you and who is- who is still alive. You haven't experienced loss, and I hope you never do. But thinking back to my school years reminds me of everyone I lost. James, Sirius, Remus, precious Lily, and even Peter."

"Pettigrew was a no-good filthy traitor!" Al said suddenly.

Dalbert looked sadder than ever. "You don't know Peter. Foolish boy, but so kind. He made the wrong choice and was a coward, I'll admit. He spent all of his school years a good and loyal friend, ready to lose everything. He died a dishonorable death, and he deserved it. Honestly, that was not the Peter I knew. The Peter I knew died when he sold his soul."

"But surely you should honor the memory of your friends by at least thinking of them!" said Rose, becoming slightly angry.

"Rose, no," Max whispered.

"Weasley, I lost everything important to me. James and Lily, Sirius in Azkaban, Remus to face the full moon alone, and Peter scurrying from guilt as a rat. That one night everyone was celebrating, raising their mugs to the boy who lived. The Marauders broke that night. We lost it all. I knew Sirius was innocent but couldn't prove it; I lost all of my best friends."

"You still had Remus," said Al. "You two were still alive, and Remus didn't have to suffer the full moon if you were there. I'll assume that you also became an Animagus."

Dalbert shook his head. "Remus wasn't the same. Lily and James died, Peter was supposedly murdered by his best friend who was now in Azkaban. I tried to help him, I tried to comfort him through the full moon, but something had changed. He lost his head after transforming. I had memories of the five of us exploring the grounds and castle as animals, but now, Remus' eyes vanished into his wolf's black ones. I tried," he croaked. "I really tried. I couldn't tame him." Dalbert lifted the side of his white shirt to show them a deep gash scared across his ribs. "And that happened while I was in form. If I were a human at the time, it would have killed me. He pushed away more than ever when he saw it. He didn't even accept my money." Dalbert wiped his nose. Rose sniffed slightly, feeling her eyes itch. "Weasley, I can't pick out the good times. If I think of them, I think of it all. Some things are best forgotten."

"Professor Dalbert?" said Al. "We'll leave you alone in a moment, but would you please answer this? Why is Lily chasing James with eggs?" he pointed to what seemed to be his favorite picture in the album.

Dalbert laughed and explained the picture, which led to him reminiscing on the following, and the one after that. So much for leaving him alone, the next five hours were spent sitting on his desk as he laughed and explained each photo. Why he had taken it, the story behind, and where everyone was. He commentated the matches that James could be seen playing in, and he told them about the Gryffindor parties afterward. He explained why first years weren't allowed broomsticks and the reason there were so many trick steps. It was one of the most enjoyable afternoons they had had in a while. The group of kids laughed hysterically at some of the stories and Dalbert cringed in memory of his first Animagus transformation attempt. He then produced a Patronus, and they watched it run around the room. Though he sternly refused to transform in the office as he said he wouldn't fit. They ate dinner and tea until eight thirty when he sent them to bed, saying that he couldn't have them past nine.

The four students left the office, classroom, and entered into the corridor, feeling rather happy.

"When are we telling all of this to our parents?" Albus asked Rose.

"Over summer," she replied. "It's too much to put into a letter unless you want to write it."

"No," Al agreed. "Summer is best."

"I really do wish Dalbert had transformed, though," said Max. "It would have been educational to watch it actually be done."

"I don't see how he couldn't have fit in the office," said Rose. "He's not an elephant or anything."

Al shook his head. "Have you ever seen a Kodiak bear?"

The four split to their separate common rooms. Rose waved at them and heard Scorpius mumble, "Related?" Then he positively shouted. "That means I'm related to you too, Al!"

Rose fell onto the sofa in the extraordinarily messy common room. Most students had gone to bed, being so tired from the match and party. Rose finally removed her turtleneck, so she was in a tank top.

"Whoa! What the hell happened there!" Max called, grabbing Rose's arms and examining the bruises.

"Oh, I'm fine," she lied. In reality, it hurt to inhale. It felt like she was being pounded again every time she took a breath.

"Let me see," said Max, moving her hair so that he could see the black bruise over her chest where her collar bone was. He placed his hand on top of the wound. "Does that hurt?" he asked.

 _Yes!_ "No," she replied.

His hands were warm and left a tingly sensation when he moved to grab her arms. He stoked her forearms with his fingers determinedly.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm trying to see how deep this bruise got. Really, you're mad to grab that ball."

"I'm a Weasley," she said proudly.

"What's the difference?" he asked.

Rose hit him on the arm and bounded up from the couch. "I'm going to bed now. Please don't let me sleep past class; I'm afraid I might."

"If Cromwell doesn't wake you, I will," he said, starting toward the stairs with her.

Rose dressed into her nightclothes, brushed her teeth and hair, and climbed into bed. Cromwell had warmed her pillow for her. She scooted the bird off before slipping under her covers and taking a deep sigh. Somehow, the bruise didn't hurt her this time. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.


	26. Danielle Snaps

Rose had a new appreciation for Professor Dalbert in the following classes. He just seemed so much cooler. He was a Marauder. He was an Auror and a journalist, and he could transform into an Alaskan Kodiak bear at will. Rose and Max both listened with more interest to Dalbert's classes. They knew he knew what he was teaching. Not that they didn't think he did before, but the spells they were casting felt stronger for some reason. Perhaps it was because she desperately wanted to impress a Marauder ("Well, more of a fifth wheel Marauder." As Dalbert had claimed.) or maybe it was because Dalbert seemed to be watching them closer.

The force she spit from her wand felt stronger and tickled her fingertips with its power. Every time she would successfully knock the chair from the table, she would grin up at Dalbert to see if he had seen. And every time, he would smile back. When he was watching, it was as though all the Marauders were watching.

Max didn't need to check for approval, everyone knew he was the best in the class. His spells had a power behind them that no one else could manage and sometimes, had a flicker of black. Something would change in Max's eyes when he was casting, and it wasn't the color. His face would be set to intense focus and he would become, quite frankly, scary. But whenever his spell was cast better than everyone else's, he would lower his wand and give a small smile to himself which was adorable.

It had been three days since the match and Rose was counting down to when the week without Stella was over. She knew it would be bitter sweet. She desperately wanted to get back on track with Sugamina and at least visit Stella again, but she also knew that Al would likely become unbearable and these few days they spent laughing in the gardens, splashing in the creek, and doing Astronomy on the roof every night because they were so far behind would be over.

She had become a great deal more popular since her bludger catch. It seemed to be the most daring move done by a female beater since Alexandrea Schumer who, during the tournament between Switzerland and Germany, rode a bludger to the ground having lost her broom. Louis, who had captured the entire match through his camera lens and spent the next two days developing them, had sent the photos to Mr. Creevey, head of the Weekly Post Department, who squeezed her catch on the third page of the Dailey Profit next to a section on talking animals. Rose's father had never been so proud and even sent a howler during breakfast to praise her. In some ways, this was worse than the usual scolding howlers as Rose's face was as red as her hair while the whole hall listened to Ron's quite enthusiastic commendation.

On the following day of the match, Rose had walked to the mirror in her bathroom to examine her bruise and decide what stage it's at given the color. To her astonishment, when she pulled open her blouse, nothing was there. The terrible purple and red bruise had completely vanished; her chest didn't even hurt. She pulled up her sleeves to find that the bruises across her arms were gone as well. But that's impossible! She knew that bruises can take days to heel, sometimes weeks. Albus' bruise from the night Stella saved him were still there and looking worse than ever. Al had told them about his break for the lake the previous day and how he had almost died. Rose had promptly begun hitting him with her breakfast tray as she shouted his stupidity, covering the person across the table with all the remaining food, Tyler.

Once discovering that she was miraculously healed, she did the first thing she always did when she had a question or a fear, she ran to Max. Forgetting that it was four in the morning, she had barged into his dormitory and tapped him repeatedly on the shoulder until he finally rolled over; he was an exceptionally heavy sleeper.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Rose momentarily forgot what she had come in there for at her sudden amusement regarding his hair which was illuminated by the faint moon light as a bundle of curls tangled in his face. "Stop looking at my hair," he said.

"Right, right!" she remembered. "Look! Look at my bruise!"

"Lumos," he whispered and his wand tip illuminated.

"What's that light for?" a tired boy's voice groaned from the opposite bed. "It that Rose?"

"Rose, go back to bed, it's early."

"It's no use guys, just go to sleep."

"What am I looking at?" Max asked as his eyes slowly began to droop.

"Exactly!" Rose screeched. "Nothing's there!"

Max blinked at her, perplexed. "Okay, please tell me you didn't come up here just to wake me up and show me nothing or are you trying to give me riddles in which case, please don't."

"No, Max, the bruises, they're all gone! Not a trace!"

"Did you take something for them?"

Rose shook her head. "Why would I come all the way up her and wake you if I had taken something that was supposed to take away what I'm not showing you?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," he whispered rolling back over to sleep.

Rose glared for a moment though she wasn't angry, this was a better than expected reaction to be woken up at four in the morning. She lifted Max's illuminated wand from his bedside cabinet and was about to shut it off. Maybe it would be best to register this event when he was conscious. Though, Max's wand sliced her hand when she picked it up, not by magic. His wand had been pulled from the ground by Ollivander, therefore, his entire wand was the end root to a birch tree as the last three inches were spiraled out root. He often got splinters from it as did Rose tonight. She pulled the shard of wood from her finger and remembered something as a drop of crimson blood dangled from her cut. Her splinter from Max's bedpost. She examined where it had been, nothing was there it didn't even hurt after Max pulled it out. Max, pulled it out… Her bruises, impossibly gone the day after Max touched them. Max, touched them… Her salmonella which was supposed to last four to seven days was gone within twelve hours, the last two being spent in Max's arms as he held her to lessen her fever because she didn't want to be alone in the hospital wing and wasn't being warmed by the quilts Madam Pomfrey had given her. Max, had held her. And every time, she seemed to be better by morning. Madam Pomfrey had been beside herself when Rose asked to go to class the next day.

"But, that's impossible," she whispered to herself. Rose knew Max had healing powers but, was in possible, perhaps, that he could transfer them? There were a couple of ways to find out; Rose took the fastest.

"Max?" she said, bouncing onto his four-poster bed and crawling up to where he slept.

"Mmmrrph," he mumbled.

Rose thrust her hand under his pillow to retrieve what he called a "box cutter", though she had never seen him cut a box with it. Max was forced to sit up as she pulled flipped the pillow out from under his head.

"What are you-"

Rose took the blade and, without thinking to stop, sliced her palm open.

"Rose! Are you mad!" Max called, taking the knife from her and placing it rather far away. He took her gash and covered it with his own hand. "What'd you go and do that for?"

"It's okay," she said, trying to ignore the stinging which she felt now tingling. "It's be gone by tomorrow."

"What are you on about?"

"You can fix it, Max! You can heal other people!"

"That's ridiculous, of course, I can't!"

"Vlad, will you shut up?" one of the boys called. Rose thought it to be Ben.

Max jumped out of his bed and pulled Rose to the bathroom before closing the door and turning toward her.

"What's all this about?" he asked, taking her hand and a tie from the bathroom counter.

"Max, I've realized that every time I'm hurt, you touch my wound and it's healed usually within a couple of hours! Surely, you've noticed. There's no other explanation for my bruises being gone at least. I think you have the ability to transfer your powers!"

Max shook his head. "Rosie, as awesome as that would be, it's not possible. The magic stored in me only multiplies my leucocytes. Unless I somehow gave you my blood, it wasn't me that healed you."

"We know nothing about what Belladonna did to you," said Rose. "Who's to say that you only have multiplied white blood cells? You may have extraordinary gifts that you know nothing about."

Max looked up and gave her his trade-mark 'come on/apprehensive' face. He sighed and let go of her hand at last which she just realized was now wrapped in a red and gold tie to stop the bleeding.

"Well then answer me this," he started. "When I was attending to the patience in the hospital wing during detention in first year, how come David Newberrie's foot remained swollen for weeks after I wrapped it? If I could unknowingly transfer my powers, then how come he wasn't healed right away?"

Rose didn't respond, she was thinking. True, that wouldn't make sense. But neither is her bruises disappearing. Max is the only explanation for the phenomenon. Her silence must have made Max decide that he had won because he took her by the shoulders and led Rose from the bathroom and into the outside hall.

"You need to sleep, we have way too much on our plates to worry about me now. Go on." He pushed her gentle down the hall until she began walking on her own without looking back. She didn't hear Max close his door until she began her decent down the stairs. Rose pulled her bandaged hand closer to her chest and felt a tingling sensation as she had done with her splinter and her bruise. She smiled and knew that Max was wrong.

The next day, she confidently slid across the breakfast bench to lean against Max and wave her hand in front of his newspaper. The wound was now a thin pink line across her palm. Max had raised an eyebrow at her and she explained the tingling and only explanation. Max still didn't believe her.

"Good morning, Al!" Rose smiled present day as he and Scorpius made their way into the great hall for breakfast wearing their Quidditch uniforms and looking put-out. "Practice went over, huh? You guys are usually showered and ready by now."

"Keith really wants us to beat Ravenclaw," said Scorpius, falling onto the Gryffindor table as Olivia slid beside him and began buttering his pancakes.

"It's not just Ravenclaw," said Rocky, staring down at his newspaper and drinking coffee practically white with all the cream and sugar. "It's Madiline, the captain of the Ravenclaw team. They're dating now, she and Paul."

Al began laughing. "That explains a bit!"

"If it gets out and everyone starts making fun of him, tell 'em I told you," said Rocky, still not glancing up.

"Double potions today," said Olivia, sliding Scorpius' finished pancakes under his nose. "I heard Professor Killpii is going to try'n give us a pop quiz."

"What?" exclaimed Scorpius, finally sitting up.

"Yeah, I heard it from an elf who was (Hyperion, eat) stirring our fire. It's supposed to be on the difference between brewing a stretching draft as a potion vs. concoction. He's been hinting at it for weeks."

Scorpius and the Merik boys groaned. "It's not hard, guys," said Al, looking completely relaxed about the quiz. "The difference between potion vs. concoction is a matter of logic; it's a trick question because-"

"We're going to be late!" Olivia interrupted loudly, standing with her watch raised.

"We still have fifteen minutes," said Max, finally folding his paper.

"I can not be tardy!" Olivia called before grabbing Scorpius by the wrist and hauling him out like a dog on a leash.

"Wait, no!" Scorpius called. "I want to know the difference between potion and concoction!"

"THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE!" Al called after him, but Olivia had already drug him around the corner. "EXCEPT FOR THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE IN-"

"Al, Albus, stop," said Rose. "He can't hear you."

Al sighed. "He's going to fail that test. Professor Killpii always separates us during tests."

"How come Olivia always drags him everywhere?" asked Max, finishing up his pancakes.

"Because he lets her lead," said Owen Merik from across the table. "She's a leader and has never been allowed to be in charge; she has four brothers the same age after all. Your friend there is one of the first to care about what she has to say. But, uh, do tell us, Al, what's the difference between potion and concoction?"

Professor Killpii knew them a little too well. He separated the four quite effectively. Rose was in the left corner of the dungeon classroom, Max in the right, Al in the back, and Scorpius was front and center. But Killpii's mistake was allowing Scor to sit by Olivia, the "honorable" student who would never help another student cheat.

Rose started at her test.

 _Question 1-_

 _In what circumstance is it wise to brew a lightened led potion under the full moon in a copper base cauldron with the diameter of sixty-four centimeters?_

She thought for a moment. What had Professor Killpii said? She had taken notes. Oh yes!

 _Whenever togel has been applied to every other centimeter of the copper cauldron under the third full moon of the year and after the led has been melted fully and kissed by a gilda fly._

 _Question 2-_

 _Between what sun position does hepradiez simmer best?_

Rose twiddled Max's quill between her fingers. She scribbled down and answer that she remembered when reviewing her notes titled 'Hepradiez.' She looked around the room. Albus was in the back, his head propped lazily on his arm and looked to be on the third sheet of parchment. Scorpius was tapping his head with his fingers seemingly trying to knock the answer further to the front. Olivia was on her second page and trying to glance at Scorpius' to see where he was. Max was laying on his desk with a mint leave in his mouth. Where he gets these leaves was beyond Rose; they weren't even brewing today and he had somehow got ahold of one. It didn't look as though he had even touched his quiz. Poppy Parkinson was drooling on her paper and the Merik boys looked to be in tears. They were allowed to work together as their knowledge for potions together equaled a regular understanding of the subject for a single person. Though Rose felt sorry for how scared they were, she thought they deserved it. She always told them to stop fooling around in class and listen and perhaps study once classes are over.

She peered back at her parchment and had to wait for her eyes to adjust to the low light before she started back.

 _Yes_

 _No_

 _B, D, A, T_

 _Bah, blah, blah_

 _False_

 _Only if you spit_

 _Blah, blah, blah_

"Alright class, turn in your quiz," Professor Killpii said, though he always used his wand to sweep the papers away from the students rather than having them turn it in.

The class watched with bated breath as Killpii shuffled through the work to see how far the students had gotten. Rose had ripped the edge from hers so that she would know when he passed it. Luckily, he didn't stop to remark as her quiz was examined. However, he did pause on the one directly after. It had taken a moment before he said anything.

"Mr. Everard," he started, flipping the paper around for the class to snigger at. Over the test was a rather exaggerated drawing cartoon of Professor Killpii. Over the following pages were more doodles, most of which were fun and cartooned, unlike Al's realistic ones. "You didn't even try."

"I did Professor," said Max. "I read the entire test but didn't know any of the answers. You don't like any blank spaces even if we have to guess, so I made use of the space and my time."

Rose shook her head disapproving but trying to conceal a smile. Max twiddled his thumbs together innocently as he waited for his fate.

"You know," Killpii started. "I'm starting to think you like detention."

"I'm just excepting it, Sir," said Max.

Rose, Al, Scor, and Olivia waited outside the dungeon classroom for Max to receive his fate.

"I think Killpii's right," said Olivia. "Max really does seem to like detention."

"He's usually assigned to the owlery because not even the elves will clean it," said Rose. "He likes the owls."

"NO, PLEASE PROFESSOR! GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE! I'LL DO THE WORK!"

Rose jumped and pressed her ear to the door. That was Max pleading. What in the world could Professor Killpii be doing to make a boy like Max plead?

"No, Everard! I've had it with your antics! You will learn to listen and not disrespect me! Maybe things will change after this."

"PROFESSOR! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

"Let go, Everard! I have a nap to take."

The door swung open suddenly making Olivia pull Rose back before she was hit.

Professor Killpii came striding out looking rather pleased with himself. He caught sight of the group and cleared his throat. "You may want to help him up. I fear he'll try to lock himself in there." Killpii swept away in his turquoise robes muttering, " _That'll put that boy straight."_

Rose ran into the dungeon followed by her friends. Max was on his knees in front of the teacher's desk looking utterly defeated.

"Maddox!" Rose called skidding to a holt on her knees in front of him. "What is it! What terrible thing is he making you do?"

"He's-" Max croaked. He swallowed and glanced up at her. "He's making me clean windows all night."

…

"Is that it?" asked Scorpius sounding apprehensive.

"With, with Danielle Daniels."

Al began to laugh. "How did he know?"

"Their relationship is not a secret," said Rose, impressed by Killpii's method but pitying Max.

He looked as though he had just been expelled, completely helpless in what is to come and white-faced. Rose reckoned he would straighten up a bit in studies after this. Danielle had done nothing to deserve detention. Killpii simply asked if she wanted to clean windows all night with Max and she cried she was so happy. Olivia had told them this. She always seemed to be around to overhear these random conversations and only gossiped with the four friends.

"What time?" Rose asked as she and Max sat at a table in the Gryffindor common room, doodling as they have both finished their homework for the night.

"Nine," he mumbled then dropped his head on the table.

Rose rubbed his shoulder compassionately. He was truly dreading detention for the first time.

"I'm going to see Yoman," said Max, standing to his feet and throwing away his drawing. "Are you coming?"

She glanced at Danielle near the fireplace. "Uh, no. Tell him I said hi."

Max nodded before retreating from the portrait hole.

Rose looked back at Danielle. She had her blonde curly hair in a bun atop her head and her tongue between her teeth as she scribbled frivolously in her yellow flowered diary. Rose thought for a moment, then started toward her roommate.

"Danielle?" said Rose, sitting on the arm of her chair.

Danielle pulled her diary to her chest as though she thought Rose was trying to read the swirly writing.

"Yeah?"

"I thought I should tell you because Max is embarrassed and won't mention it, I'm sure," she started, improvising as she went. "Max, he has pink eye. Now, you can't really tell because he can hide it with his metamorphmagus…stuff. But I would keep clear of him if I were you. Give him his bubble. Pink eye is very contagious."

Danielle stared up at Rose for a moment, contemplating, then she laughed slightly and with a hint of annoyance it seemed.

"I know what your problem is," she said sniffy, placing her diary on the side table beside her chair.

"My problem?" Rose blinked, standing from the arm of the chair and crossing her arms with her eyebrows raised.

"Yes, and it won't work."

"I'm not playing at anything," Rose lied, liking Danielle less and less.

"You don't want me around your man," Danielle snapped like an uneducated middle school teen.

"My man?" Rose barked.

"You're terribly slow aren't you, Weasley? Yes, everyone knows you have a think for Max."

"I do not!" said Rose, blushing red.

"Don't lie, Weasley! You hang onto him like a lost child! You. Like. Him." Danielle poked her hard in the chest with the last three words. Rose slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch me! I'm just trying to help my friend out! He doesn't like you in that way!" Rose growled. A few heads were looking up from their homework and watching the scene.

"I know that, but that's just because I haven't had a chance for him to really get to know me," Danielle closed her eyes and crossed her arms pompously.

"Believe me, you're not his type," Rose muttered, becoming red in the face and trying to keep her temper level.

"Ugh, and you think you are?" Danielle barked.

"This isn't about me!"

"You think he likes clingy book worms with an overbearing family?"

At the jab toward her family, Rose felt her ears redden.

"I have studied Max closer than you could imagine. I know exactly what he likes, and I will become that."

"See, that's creepy Daniels," said Rose. "You're a stalker, and it's really freaking him out."

"Well whatever I'm doing works," she sneered. "Because if you care to remember, he was my Valentine last year, not yours."

"That was a mistake, Daniels!" Rose barked. "Couldn't you tell how miserable he was? He doesn't like you touching him and that's all you do! You cling to him like a magnet and he's not a touchy guy in the first place, didn't you notice that through all your studying?"

"I have my methods! He will love me because I will be everything he wants and when we're married, you won't be invited to the wedding!" At this, Danielle stood from her chair and shoved Rose back so that she hit Tyler's cauldron causing a great clank and the potion to splatter all over the floor and poor Tyler's shirt.

"Whoa, okay girls, just calm down," Watson started, striding forward with his arms out.

"You're a lunatic, Daniels!" Rose hollered, pushing herself up and slapping Danielle's hand away as she looked to have been trying to push her back down. Her temper had given.

"Girls!" Watson tried again.

"Hold up there, Trout," Rocky pushed forward. "This'll get interesting."

"He will never love you!" Danielle hissed. "He's mine!"

"He is not a prize!" Rose shoved Danielle back into the chair. "You stay away from him!"

A sudden blow struck Rose hard across the face. She ducked down, holding her cheek and blinked sparks from her eyes. She had hit a nerve in Danielle causing the girl to strike her. Was she really in a fight? No, she wouldn't. Rose glared up at Danielle who sprung toward her. In an act of careful thought and instinct, she caught Danielle's arm and grappled her to the floor, a move she had learned from Fred. Danielle tumbled hard against a table. Rose wasn't going to fight, not until something caught her by the hair and yanked her head back. Mary Pye had joined the party.

"Stay away from her!" Mary yelled.

Rose hit the floor, unable to bend as far as Mary was pulling her. Danielle started up from the floor and toward Rose. Rose kicked out to block Danielle, but something red and fiery hit her attacker in the ribs with a sizzling sound. Hugo was at the front of the crowd and opened his mouth in shock as his peculiar wand released sparks.

"I didn't mean-!" Hugo started, but Danielle swung around, her bun lopsided, and with a dull thud, caught Hugo in the stomach. Rose's brother doubled over and coughed as Obadiah slid to his friend's aid.

Something clicked out of place in Rose's chest and standing, she saw as though in slow motion, her arm swing into frame and like Danielle's head was a bludger and Rose's arm was a bat, contact was made, knocking Danielle to the ground. She brought her elbow back and caught Mary in the stomach. Rose stood now, with both girls on the ground, feeling like a monster. Her mother would be so disappointed, but she felt her father's fiery spirit alight inside her. A faint hissing escaped the two girls who unexpectedly pounced like wolverines. Before she knew it, Rose was on the ground, being hit repeatedly.

Blurs came from all sides to pry Danielle and Mary off. Rose fought but felt helpless as her arms were pinned to the ground. It was a terrible feeling. The breath was knocked from her so she couldn't even gasp for air or swing. Muffled shouts were heard. James took Rose by the elbow and tried to pull her out, but couldn't manage through the crowd Quidditch players who had the other two girls around the waist. Both were swinging back as well and the crowds had to dodge the fists. Rose laid on the ground and though instance pain shot through her at the end of every blow, she didn't feel it right away. It was surreal. She couldn't distinguish faces or voices or even what was going on.

It felt like an eternity though she couldn't have been on the ground for more than six seconds before a thick yellow wind ripped through the air with the sound of agonizing screams. The wind choked everyone it swept through causing Mary and Danielle to fall back and Rose to gasp her first breath since the fall. Everyone looked up with their hands over their ears, shocked and confused, as Max dropped his wand and the screams stopped. He took Rose under the arms and swept her up to be pulled close to his chest.

She breathed in the mint and outdoor smell of his shirt and sighed as tears rolled from her eyes and stung whatever wounds she had on her face. Max shouted something though she heard only ringing in her ears. He pulled her from his shirt and stared into her face, looking both terrified and furious. His eyes were gold.

"My God," he mumbled, then pulled his friend back into a tighter hug. Her knees gave and she fell though his arms ensured that she didn't hit the floor again. Through the gab in his arms, Rose saw Danielle scowl darkly with a swollen eye. Mary was being held back by prefect Jack Wilkins. Rose's eyes wandered up to the large clock over the game table.

 _8:52 pm_

"Go," she whispered and found that her throat hurt.

"What?" Max asked pulled her from his shirt again. She saw that her face had left stains of tears and blood on his white button up and she imagined how terrible she must look now.

"Detention, you'll be expelled if you don't go," she said.

"I'm not leaving with her now!" he shook his head angrily.

"It's okay," said Fred Weasley as he took Rose into his arms which smelled of a camp fire mixed with chemicals. "We've got her, go."

Max scowled at Danielle who blushed red. He tore through the portrait hole once again as Danielle stumbled after him.

Rose spent the next two hours being tended to by her house mates. Mary had limped to the hospital wing alone. Ortho had conjured her a wet rag which Cian Garner used to clean the cuts. Madison Nolly braided Rose's hair from her face though they had never spoken to each other formally before. Micah Merlia brought her water, blushing crimson. Fred and James were having a serious conversation in the corner as was rare between them. Hugo had many beautiful girls trying to help him though he respectably waved them off as he seemed fine. She noticed that a few of her friends had also taken hits from the fight. Isaac Fisher had a swollen eye, Micah had a busted lip, and all three of the Merik boys had bruised cheek all on the same side. Many more had bruised from flailing elbows and knees as they had all tackled the pile of people at the same time.

A few Gryffindors insisted that she go to the hospital wing but she sternly refused. She wasn't too keen on the hospital wing and didn't want to spend the night on a flat cot beside Mary though Frits offered to banish her. She also insisted on sleeping on the couch that night not wanting to be in the same room with Danielle. Rose really wanted to rip the girl's hair out. The Gryffindors brought soft pillows and blankets to make her a bed and though this was all appreciated, Rose was red with embarrassment. She was being treated as though she were uncappable, though she reckoned she really was.

The lights went out with the last student to bed, Pippin Mcsquire. Rose laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling where she just noticed had spots of slime and ink splatters. The faint blue glow from the moon through the window illuminated the room to look ghostly and deserted. The fire had gone out and the elves had already come and gone. Yoman wasn't with them so they didn't stop to talk to her. They did, however, fluff her pillow and straighten her blankets.

Cromwell came from nowhere to nestle against Rose's legs and fell asleep. She wished that she had her magic hand mirror; Rose wanted to speak to Al though he was probably asleep and her mirror was all the way upstairs, so far away. Finally, after hours, her eyes began to droop and she dozed into an uneasy sleep.

'SLAM!' The portrait hole swung forward, and footsteps fumbled inside. Rose's eyes shot open, and she listened.

"Won't you talk to me now?" Danielle wined and Rose felt anger surge through her. "I already said I was sorry and I'll apologize to Rose. Oh Please, Max!"

"I don't want to hear it!" Max barked in a whisper with the sound of something hit the ground. "You think I'll forgive you that easy? What you did was terrible! And why you did it was ludicrous!"

"Oh, Max," she cried. "I said I was sorry. It was for you. _She_ wanted to be stay away from you! _She_ was being completely unfair!"

"You hurt her!" Max called. Rose stayed low to the cushions and tried to muffle her breathing; it would be rather awkward if they found her there now. "You hurt her!"

"Give me a chance! I will be whatever you want!" she cried.

"Let go of me!"

"I-" she sniffed. "I love you."

Rose listened with bated breath as a silence followed. Finally, Max broke it.

"You are twelve!" he called in exasperation. "What do you know about love? You are infatuated and to be honest, I have no idea why! You know nothing about me!"

"Your name is Vladimir D'artagnan Everard!" she gasped trough sobs. "You go by Max! Your favorite color is indigo! Your birthday is December 5th! You are thirteen years old! You don't like liquorish and you hate mushrooms! You don't know your mom and you like mint leaves! You love Astronomy and you are dreadful at transfiguration!"

"Danielle, stop," Max mumbled.

"You don't enjoy playing Quidditch but you are supportive of your house! You are not house biased! You like animals!"

"Danielle,"

"You live in a small wizard village just outside Dingle Ireland! You were bit by a platypus when you were two and you were born with electric blue eyes, and-!" she caught her breath.

"Danielle, that's enough."

"And- and you're in love with Rose Weasley!"

Rose didn't move. Another long silence followed with only Danielle's sobs to break it.

"She's my best friend," Max whispered.

"She's more than that!" Danielle sobbed. "I see the way you look at her! It's a way you have never looked at me."

"Danielle, go to bed," he whispered weakly.

"I will make you love me, Max. See if I won't!" Danielle welled and ran up the stairs, covering her face.

Max lingered for a moment. He took a deep sigh, started toward the boy's staircase. Rose panicked and tucker her head under the blanket though she doubted he would have been able to see her regardless. She watched him trudge up the stairs looking exhausted.

Rose pulled her head from the blanket and sat up from the couch. She gasped as her rips ached. Cromwell crawled up her legs to settle onto her lap and stare up at her with his huge eyes. Rose stoked his feathers thoughtfully.

"She's wrong," she whispered to him. "Danielle is insane. Max doesn't look at me in any special way," she laughed weakly. Cromwell hooted. "No." She laid back down and stared at the ceiling. "That would be weird. He is my best friend after all."

It took nearly an hour before Rose finally dozed back into a difficult sleep and had a very bizarre dream that she would remember nothing of the following morning.


	27. Amortentia Attempt

A blinding ray of sunlight woke Rose the following morning. She blinked the light from her eyes and squinted at her hands which her folded in front of her face. Flashes of the previous night flickered into memory. Rose rolled over and stretched with a yawn. She moved to kick the blankets off as she did most mornings but found that something was under her feet. She sat up to find Max asleep at the bottom of the sofa, her feet propped on his legs. He had a book open against his chest and looked incredibly peaceful.

"Max?" Rose whispered, finding it odd now how deserted the common room was considering the time of day. "Max?" She shuffled her feet to wake him.

"What? Oh," he mumbled, opening his eyes and scratching his hair which was lopsided from where he had fallen asleep.

"Why are you down here?" she asked sweetly. "Where is everyone?"

"Third years and above are at Hogsmeade," he yawned. "Then everyone else is outside; it's surprisingly warm."

"Why aren't you outside?" she asked.

"I was curious," he replied. "Curious to see if you were right."

"Right about what?" she asked, curling her legs into crosses.

Max reached out and touched her face. "We were right," he said. "They're gone."

Rose felt her face quickly. Her bruises and cuts from Danielle and Mary hurt no longer and most felt nonexistent under her fingers. Rose grinned and punched him in the arm excitedly. "I told you! Oh, Max, you are the most incredible person I know!"

"I've done nothing intentionally," he said, blushing slightly as he always did when people would compliment him.

"Where's Daniels and Pye?" Rose asked with a sour taste in her mouth.

"They're outside as well," Max replied. "They got detention for a month, though. Dalbert spoke to them this morning. Luckily, you had enough witnesses to vouge for you."

Rose nodded thoughtfully.

"Rose," Max tilted his head to see her face. "Why did you get in that fight?"

Rose crossed her arms and scowled. "Danielle is a psychopath, and I told her that. She got angry and hit me. Mary joined in, and that's it," she finished shortly.

Max squinted slightly and nodded slowly. "That's it, huh?"

"Yes," she lied.

Max smiled to himself and half laughed. "Okay, well, how about a game of checkers?"

"Why?" Rose asked. "If it's a nice day then why don't we go out?"

"Because you only got four hours of sleep last night and you need to relax," Max replied, standing to choose a game from the shelve.

"How do you know?"

"Because by the time I came down, you weren't yet snoring," he said, returning with spells and battles instead.

"I don't snore!" Rose called.

Max stopped when opening the box to raise an eyebrow at her then he smiled and shook his head to himself.

'knock, knock, knock.'

Rose jumped to hear a faint pounding coming from the fireplace and for a wild moment, thought that someone was about to emerge by floo. She stood from the sofa and lent to the fire.

"Oi! Max, are you there?" Rose jumped again and noticed that the voices were coming muffled from inside the walls.

 _Oh no._ She thought and pulled away the tapestry of the great roaring lion to stare at the blank stone wall behind.

"Al? Scor?" she called.

"Rose? Is that you? Be a dear and let us in; it's awfully cramped in here!" came Scorpius' voice from the tunnel behind the stone.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she huffed. "You know I can't get you out!"

"Well, how do we open the passage?" Al's voice came, sounding as though he was smashed against the wall.

"Max?" Rose called.

Max turned with an armful of sweets for what he expected to be a game day.

"Al and Scor are behind in the wall. They want to get in," she said.

"Really?" Max smiled, looking intrigued. He dropped the food and knocked on the stone wall above the mantel. "Hello?"

"You already know we're back here, will you let us in already?" called Al.

"Right, uh," Max tried to remember. "Do you see a stone shaped like a heart?"

"Hold on," said Scorpius. "Light, Al, I need light – no, over here! Ow! Give it! Ow! Al, move your elbow!"

"Yes, mom," Al taunted. "Right there, under your chin."

"Oh, okay, We found it, Max! What now?"

"Alright, push it in, pull the nail down, and push the wall forward!" Max called. Rose's arms were getting tired. The tapestry was extremely heavy after all, and she was still holding it to the side.

'Scrape,' 'Click,' 'Schreck'

The stone wall cracked and swung forward. The sight that awaited Rose caused her to laugh. Scorpius and Al were cramped into a narrow passage, their arms curled under their bodies and looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Hang in there, guys," Max laughed as he pulled a chair to the fireplace. He climbed atop and took Scorpius by the forearm and heaved him out.

But rather than successfully heaving the Slytherins neatly from the tunnel and setting them on the ground, both boys came falling as Max pulled Scorpius.

Rose screamed slightly and covered her mouth before taking Al by the robes and lifting to his feet. To her surprise, they both laughed.

"Awake now, Scor?" Al asked.

"What are you two doing here?" Rose asked.

"We came to see you," said Scor.

"We heard about what happened with Daniels," said Al.

"We were going to offer to curse her for you; we'd never be caught," said Scorpius.

Something stung quickly as she heard Danielle's name, but turned to amusement. "That won't be necessary," she said. "They got detention."

"Detention?" called Al indigently. "That's it? Those girls hurt my cousin, they'd better what over their shoulder from now on!"

Rose smiled. "I'd rather not have two of some of my best friends getting caught hexing a girl. Not just because you'll get in trouble with the school, but it'll look horrible for your social record- cursing a girl."

"Wait a minute!" Scor called suddenly. "What happened to all your bruises and battel scars?"

Rose looked at Max. "Apparently," he started, unconcernedly. "I can transfer my healing ability."

"Really?" Al gasped. "That's awesome! How long have you known?"

"I just found out this morning," he shrugged.

"But, what are we going to tell people when they see Rose without scars that they knew she has?" Scor asked.

"I'll tell them that I popped by the Matron," said Rose.

"Well, how 'bout we head out onto the ground?" suggested Scor. "It's a real nice day. Or maybe we can head to the gardens!"

"Go ahead if you'd like," said Rose sheepishly. "I think I'll just hang in here today." She wanted nothing to do with those girls today. Not only did she not want to see them in passing, but she was sure that Danielle would likely try to apologize like she had promised Max she would. Rose wasn't ready to pretend to forgive her when she came crying. Rose, was pissed.

"Well then," said Max, placing his armful of snacks and games on the coffee table. "Looks like it's a game day!"

No matter what Rose said, they refused to leave her alone. They knew her too well to believe that she really wanted to be left alone or that she wished to do homework.

It was the most fun she had all year. The common room remained empty for most of the day allowing them to do whatever they wished. They played giant battleship, exploding snap, charades, and Max had a crazy idea to with involved them sneaking through the tunnel to fetch paint from the muggle art classroom. They were able to work up enough courage to open the mantle tunnel from the outside by standing far away from it and saying nothing except for the answer. They emerged into the Gryffindor common room twenty minutes later with armfuls of paint jars and an extra person. Olivia had been doing a mural when they snuck through the floors and was invited to tag along. She was helped through the tapestry tunnel and hugged Rose when she had enough room to do so.

"Rose, I'm so sorry!" she said. "My brothers are already helping me work out a way to get her expelled."

Max set out a large white bedsheet ("So that it won't get too messy.") and began pouring the paint onto the sheet. Then, he introduced sugar to a game he called, 'twister.' It was the most peculiar game she had ever participated in. They put a spell on a sheet of parchment and a quill to spin and decide which hand or foot would land in which color paint. Rose laughed hysterically as she found herself stuck half under Scorpius, half over Olivia and covered from head to toe in vibrant colors. They stopped, stained and sore from their knot, to eat whatever junk food the Gryffindors had stashed which ended up being a great deal. Sugar ate while Max reenacted his adventure when running away from a muggle police officer because he had accidentally caused moose antlers to sprout through the officer's hat while Max was being scorned for littering. After, Rose popped corn kernels with her wand while Max snuck to the muggle studies classroom for a projector. It took a near half hour to figure out how to use it, but soon enough, after getting shocked a couple times, everyone sat on the floor in the orange rays of sunlight as they watched a moving picture that actually told a story about spaceships and exploring the galaxy and foreign and dangerous planets.

It was almost worth getting beat up to be spending the best day of her life with her best friends.

But, it was all too good to last. Scorpius, Al, and Olivia frantically dove through the tunnel as a raucous grew closer to the portrait hole. No sooner did the opening for the tunnel completely vanish did the portrait swing open and dozens of Gryffindors poured through all shouting and booming and ruffing each other up.

"Ahh!" Elvy Balimp slipped in the paint they had left on the floor.

"Weasley!" called Rocky when catching sight of her watching them over the back of the couch. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm not in pain anymore, I took a trip to the matron," Rose replied over all the noise.

"Yeah, I was about to say," said Isaac, joining them. "But, uh, Daniels wants to speak to you."

Rose groaned, she really was not in the mood. "Will you tell her I'm out or jumped off a cliff or something?" she pleaded.

"Uh," said Isaac, becoming slightly red. "I don't think that'll work."

"Why?"

"Because she's waiting two feet behind you…"

Rose closed her eyes in dread and turned to see Danielle standing behind her, looking angry and nervous.

"I know you don't want to talk to me," Danielle said slowly.

"Yeah?" Rose snapped. "What gave it away?"

"Please, Rosie?"

"Don't call me Rosie."

"I really need to speak to you, in private."

Rose took a deep breath. She didn't see any way out of this and knew that if she refused, Danielle would keep coming back until she finally accepted. Rose stood and waltzed to the exit, feeling a familiar rage seep through her. Danielle hurried after Rose who didn't stop until they reached an abandoned classroom with desk chairs stacked across the wall and an old mirror in the corner. Fire in lamps along the walls burst into life when they entered.

"Uh, you really want to do it here?" Danielle asked, looking around sweaty and fidgety.

"What? Are you afraid I'll try something?" Rose smirked at the fear in Danielle's face.

"No!" Danielle barked defiantly. "You didn't seem to be up to hurting me last night."

Rose sat on the dusty teacher's desk and leaned forward over her legs. "That was two against one," she whispered poisonously. "And I - wasn't – trying."

Danielle gulped. "Look," she said huffily. "I wanted to apologize okay? So there."

Rose sat up and crossed her arms. "And you're not just saying that because you want to be on Max's good side?"

"Ah!" she gasped. "I don't need to go through you to get on his good side; I have other methods."

Rose glared intently. Something wasn't right. She looked at Danielle's hands. They were folded in front of her. Her fingers were twitching, and her thumbs were tapping her wrist as Rose's did when she was anxious.

"Methods?" Rose asked, still eyeing the girl's hands. "Like what?"

"I hardly think I need to tell you; do you mistake me for an idiot?" Danielle barked. "I just told Max I'd say sorry and I have. So now I'm leaving." She turned to open the door but found that it was locked.

Rose was flipping her wand in her fingers watching Danielle struggle with the handle.

"Wh-why can't I open it?" she stammered worriedly.

"Because I locked it," said Rose casually. "I thought you would have guessed, or maybe I should have mistaken you for an idiot."

Danielle turned, terrified, as Rose leaped from the desk and paced the room slowly. She had seen what she needed when Danielle's hands opened to flail with her words and Rose thought that she smelled the answer too.

"So, you're actually sorry?" said Rose.

Danielle sniffed. "I just said I was, what more do you want?"

Rose stopped and smiled. "A hug," she answered.

Danielle blinked confusedly. "A hug?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Well, if I give you a hug will you let me go?"

"It is definitely a key element," Rose replied.

Danielle huffed and looked around the room awkwardly. She stumbled over to Rose, looking as though she'd rather eat Cactul puss than touch her; Rose felt the same. Daniels wrapped her arms loosely around Rose who patted her on the back but took a whiff of the girl's hair.

Rose scowled over the main of curls. There it was, exactly what she needed.

Danielle pulled away quickly and folded her arms. "Can I go now?"

"You may leave," said Rose, fury blazing through her veins.

Danielle started toward the door, but Rose had no real intention of letting the girl leave, not yet anyway. Rose caught Danielle around the back of the neck, spun her, and slammed her roommate against the stone wall beside the locked door. Danielle's eyes were full of terror as Rose glared deeply with her forearm pressed strongly to her chest.

"Did you mistake _me_ as a fool? Or just Max? Did you think neither of us would figure you out?" Rose hissed.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about!" Danielle squeaked.

"No?" Rose reached into the girl's pocket.

"Don't touch-!" Danielle tried, but Rose had already retrieved a small glass vile filled with pink liquid.

Danielle tried to snatch it again, but Rose pinned her back against the wall. "Amortentia," she whispered. "Did this just happen to slip into your pocket, Daniels?"

"It's not what you think?" Danielle tried. "It's not for Max!"

"You liar!" Rose called, and Danielle positively shrank. "How desperate can you get? Why won't you understand that he does not like you?"

"I wasn't planning on using it!" she said.

"You didn't want to use it," said Rose. "Not until you lost your temper last night and realized that there was no other way."

"How did you-?"

"I've been smelling it on you for weeks!" Rose shouted, in raged. "But I've just now riddled it out. You've been putting it on as a perfume so Max would smell you and think of all his favorite things! I've known you've been up to something! My Uncle invented that brand for Merlin's sake! It stains for skin in reddish splotches when you've been in close contact! And Max wouldn't be the only one who smelled you! I've been smelling freshly cut grass, crisp autumn air, mint, fresh peppers and peaches, cedar wood, and shampoo on you all this time!"

"Well, what's the big deal!" Danielle exclaimed struggling to break Rose's grasp.

"It's illegal!" Rose bellowed. "Your first mistake, hitting a Weasley, your second, trying to poison her best friend right after! What about you caring about him and knowing what's best for him? You've been arguing that point for months!"

"This potion will make him happy!" Danielle called, still looking petrified that Rose was about to pound her to a pulp. "He will feel love! Isn't that what everyone wants in life?"

"They want to feel love for the person they love!" Rose called exasperated, then hushed as footsteps strode by.

"This potion will make him love me! That's what's best for him! I'm trying to give to him! I'm a giver!"

"You're a taker! You're taking away his right to choose! His right to love who he wants and be happy with who he wants! You are twelve years old Danielle! You are delirious! You know nothing about love! You're so desperate to feel it from someone that you'll poison them for your sake!"

"You don't know what's best for him," Danielle cried.

Rose scowled. She took the glass bottle in her fist and threw it against the stone floor of the classroom where it shattered spectacularly. Danielle gasped.

"You think you were watching Max closely before? That will be nothing compared to how closely I'll be watching you," she bared her teeth. "I cannot make you leave him alone, but if you EVER try something like this again, I'll have you expelled, make no mistake about that! You mess with one of us, three more will be out for your blood." Rose pointed her wand at the lock. _'click_ ' "Get out." Rose released Danielle at last where the girl fell to her shaking knees then scurried out like a mouse.

Rose took a deep, calming breath, then screamed in anger.

"Four."

Rose's heart jumped from her chest as a voice sounded behind her. She spun to see Olivia Merik walk out from a concealed door behind the mirror. "If you bother one of us, _four_ more will be out for her blood."

Rose sighed and fell to the floor in front of the Amortenia. "How do you do that?" Rose breathed.

"Do what?" Olivia asked, sitting beside Rose.

"How are you always there to hear other people's conversations or pop up when you're needed?"

Olivia shrugged. "A gift, I guess? I have four brothers and can usually spot trouble from a mile away. Are you saying I'm needed?" she grinned.

"Yeah." Rose leaned on her shoulder where Olivia patted her on the back.

"Don't worry, we won't let her poison Max," Olivia said, touching the potion. "That girl's a lunatic."

"I want to rip her head off," said Rose.

"You could have. God, you looked scary!"

"What do you sense when you smell Amortentia?" Rose asked.

"I smell dirt and grass," she replied. "freshly cooked sausage and pine needles, my mom's homemade quilt, and cologne."

"You like your mom?"

"Very much."

"And your dad?"

"Eh, he's more like my brother."

"You know, you're the only girl friend I have," said Rose.

"What about Alexis?"

"Nosey."

"Pamela?"

"Too independent for friends.'

"Uh, Madison Nolly?"

"Don't know her."

"Cian Garner?"

"Has a friend group."

"Wow, I really am your only girl friend. Well, I'm honored to hold that title," Olivia laughed slightly. "Uh, Rose?"

"Hmm?"

"Okay, let's not be falling to sleep now. We need to get you to your common room," said Olivia, nudging Rose to wake with her shoulder.

"I don't really want to go back there," Rose yawned. "I don't want to see Daniels or Mary, or the Quidditch team, or my cousins, or… anyone really."

"Well, you can't stay here."

"Why not? No one comes in here, and it smells so nice."

"Alright," said Olivia, standing so Rose toppled over and helping her friend to her feet. "I have the perfect place for you."

Rose was dug up a few staircases, her legs feeling like led. She had no idea how tired she was becoming. Maybe it was the day's events, or maybe it was because all she had to eat all day was sugar, but she wanted to collapse on something squishy and stay there for the rest of the night. Olivia stopped suddenly and Rose opened her eyes to be startled by a large tapestry before her of a troll in a tutu, chasing an older man with a club. Rose turned back around to find Olivia pacing before a stretch of black stone wall. It took Rose a moment to realize what she was doing.

"You're not-" Rose stammered. "The Room of Requirement?"

"Of course," said Olivia as a doorway appeared out of nowhere. She took Rose by the arm and led her through. "Al, Scor, and I came in here a couple of times for Sugamina meetings before, well, before you knew."

Rose was looking around in awe. The doorway sealed itself behind and before them was an extremely comfy looking four-poster bed with a white linen hotel comforter and feather pillows. A small side cabinet stood beside the bed. The walls were a calming maroon and a hot meal sat out of a coffee table in front of a white sofa. Rose walked slowly over and fell onto the mattress; she had never felt anything more wonderful.

"There we are," said Olivia soothingly, carrying the tray of food to Rose. "Feel that anger melt away; rage can really take a lot out of you; you must have been really pissed."

"Well," started Rose, taking a bite of bread. "She was trying to poison my friend." Rose froze. "Max!" she exclaimed, jumping out of her bed and starting forward only to be caught by Olivia. "Max! He needs to watch out! Danielle might still try to sneak him Amortentia! She may have more!"

"Calm down," said Olivia. "Max isn't that daft, but, I'll send him a letter if you want."

"Could you- could you have him come here too?" she asked, finally sitting back down.

"Sure." Olivia took a bit of parchment from the drawer of the side table and scribbled a short message. Then she folded it into a paper airplane and threw it across the room where it vanished through the wall. "There," she said, smiling. "He'll be here in no time. Until then, let me show you this magic trick Scor taught me!"

Five minutes later, the two girls heard the entrance to the chamber scratch itself into existence. Max came tumbling in, looking winded and terrified.

"Rose!" he gasped. "God, are you alright!"

Rose stared perplexed at Olivia. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"But- but Olly said that you were poisoned!" he croaked.

"No I didn't," Olivia laughed. "Let me see that note."

She took the small, crinkled paper airplane and read the last line allowed. " _Come to the Room of Requirement asap! Rose wants you because poison!"_ She stared at the note for a second longer. "Ohhh, yeah, I see how you could have thought that I was saying she was poisoned. And, wow, I did use a lot of explanation points."

Max fell back onto the sofa and covered his face. "Please, Olly," he started, muffled through his hands. "Read over your letters before you send them."

"Max," Rose started, now remembering. "I wanted to tell you that Danielle was trying to sneak you a love potion today! I didn't want you eating anything for a moment."

"A love potion?" said Max. "I know."

"You what?"

"Yeah, I've been smelling my favorite things on her for weeks now. Don't worry; I've been very cautious."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would have flipped out," said Max. "But, why are sleeping here?"

"I- I didn't want to see anyone, you know?" she replied, fiddling with her hair.

"You didn't want them fussing over you?"

"Yes!" she cried. "I just wish that none of that had ever happened!"

Max walked up and placed a hand on Rose's shoulder. She dropped her head against his chest. "I wish it hadn't happened too," he said. "So, you just get to sleep now. We get to see Stella tomorrow the week will be over."

Rose yawned and fell back onto the bed where Olivia pulled the covers over Rose after ripping off her shoes.

"Oh, Rose," Max turned around to say, but she had already fallen asleep.

Max turned back to leave, but the door to exit was locked.

"What's this?" he asked.

Olivia was on the bottom of Rose's bed with her arms crossed and looking drowsy too. "This room is sufficient for Rose's needs," she replied. "The reason the door is locked is because she needs you to stay."

"But where will I-?" he started but stopped as he just noticed a pile of blankets and pillows on the sofa that hadn't been there a moment before.

Olivia took one of Rose's pillows and curled up on the bottom of the bed.

"Are you staying too?" Max asked.

"I'm cool with…whatever…" And Olivia fell asleep too.

Max sighed, blew out the candle on the bedside cabinet and settled himself into the sofa. He noticed that the bit of ceiling above him was plastered with tiny stars. He smiled knowing that she must have known he needed that too.


	28. Moving Day

"I doubt they're in here," said Scorpius as he and Albus marched down a seventh-floor corridor.

"The staircase moved us up here," said Al. "So, I'd expect it was trying to tell us something, and besides, Olivia didn't drag us out of bed this morning; I don't think she even came back to the common room after running out like that. The Room of Requirement is our best bet."

The two Slytherins spun as a loud hissing met their ears. Nestly, Filtch's only female cat, stood behind them, hissing and spitting. Her back was arched, and her fur was on end. Albus rolled his eyes and turned away again. There was a flash of red light and, a thump and Scorpius came back into view dusting off his hands.

"How many do you have left?" asked Al, slightly quieter now, Nestly having reminded them that they were out of bed two hours early.

"Uh, I think that I have four more," Scor replied, stopping finally before a blank stretch of wall.

Al paced three times thinking hard, " _I want to find my friends. I want to find my friends. I want to find my friends."_

The boys waited as a doorway scratched itself into existence. Pushing it open, they found one of the coziest rooms they had ever seen. But more importantly, they found their friends. Albus stared confusedly at Max on the sofa to Rose curled like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and Olivia sprawled over Rose as though she had been rolling around in the night.

Scorpius huffed slightly. "Why weren't we invited to the sleep over?"

Al sighed. "Come on Scor; you get the girls, I'll get Max. Oh, but, uh, wake Rose carefully. If she's in a bad mood when she wakes, she's usually in a bad mood the rest of the day."

It took ten minutes to get everyone out of bed and ready to see Stella. Scorpius was a little frazzled because Olivia had blasted him across the room out of reflex when he prodded her awake. Rose had taken a blanket from the couch and was still bundled in it as they snuck across the grounds. She looked exhausted, and her red hair was tangled atop her head. Max looked similar, but Olivia had always been springy in the morning and was trotting far ahead.

Al wondered how many other students did shenanigan or had other small adventures. He knew that Sugar couldn't be the only ones breaking rules, well, besides James and Tyler. Especially considering how easy it is to sneak out of the castle at night and in the early morning

 _But then,_ he thought. _I doubt many others know about the tunnels._

Al's hands were shaking though it wasn't even that cold outside. In his bag that was slung over his shoulder, he carried a few pastries and sweets for Stella, a couple of books, his Sugamina notes, and a new t-shirt (he reckoned that his Mimbleton Dukes was likely ruined). Al rung his hands together. _Why was he so nervous?_ Perhaps it was because he hadn't seen her in so long. They had to move quicker as the sun peeked behind the mountains across the vast lake, and crawl pass Hagrid's hut where they heard a lot of loud yips. They decided to visit him after Quidditch practice.

A harsh wind blew against his face causing his hair to fall in his eyes. Al brushed it away and adjusted his glasses, walking slightly faster until he had passed Olivia. What would they do once they met? He wanted to see how her English was progressing; he had left her with a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a book on grammar. He also was excited to tell her about a plant he found which grew backward, starting from a bloom and growing into a bud. Perhaps this was an element they could use in reverse animagi.

As they grew closer to the lake, Al became sweaty. Something, something wasn't right. He faltered in his footsteps, and Olivia grabbed his arm to keep him steady. An unpleasant knot formed in his stomach and he began to run.

"Al!" the others called as they chased after him.

He breathed faster until he came to a streaking halt before the edge of the lake where they were to meet. Stella wasn't there. Al spun to face his friends.

"Somethings wrong," he confessed.

"What do you mean? Maybe she's just late," suggested Scorpius.

"No, no, this isn't like her. Something, something's happening down there." He fell to his knees to stare into the lake's rippling depths. He could see nothing except his own faint reflection. Al touched the surface; the water was still freezing.

"Albus," said Rose cautiously. "You should calm down, okay? I'm sure everything is alright."

"No, you're not," he mumbled. Something caught his ear; it sounded like music. But, this wasn't pleasant, harmonizing music, it was a cry. "Do you hear that?" he asked suddenly, bending so low to the water that his ear was touching it.

"No," the others said.

Scorpius and Olivia bent low as well to listen.

"Wait a minute," said Scor. "I hear it too. It's, uh, it's getting louder… Al? AL! GET BACK!" Scorpius took Albus under the arms and heaved him backward just as a great mass shot from the lake directly where Al had just been.

Olivia gasped in horror. Stella had just burst from the lake and was gasping for air with a look of intense horror on her face.

"Stella!" Al yelped.

"It's on me! It's on my tail!" she cried flailing about.

Albus took her by her arms and tried to heave her onto land where she was desperately trying to go. As he pulled, he noticed a great lag. Something did have her tail and a moment later, he found out what. A merman burst forth with a spear in one slimy green hand and Stella's tail in the other. He bared his sharp jagged teeth and swung the spear at Al. Albus, rage somehow filling his action, wadded into the lake forcefully and attacked the creature which in no way looked like Stella. The man screeched loudly as his voice wasn't practiced above water. Al was freezing and hyperventilating as he swung at the man and caught it in the stomach. He cared little about what his friends were doing behind him. Something stung considerably in Al's side and he found that he had been sliced by the spear.

"Get off Scum! She's mine!" the merman hissed as though he had water in his throat.

At this, Al forced the creature from him using his feet and jumped from the water. Stella had been pulled from the ground and wrapped in Rose's bedsheet. Al gasped which sent a shot of pain through his gash. He fell to the grass and coughed but was forced to move as the man's jagged spear stuck the ground beside him. Albus rolled over while Scorpius took the spear from the ground and threw it across the lake with a surprising amount of distance.

Unfortunately, the Merman wasn't going to give up so easy. He leapt from the water as well and started at them on his stomach drawing himself quickly across the ground with his arms. It was one of the most terrifying sights Albus had ever seen his heart stopped while a blast of red light hit the merman who screeched as he rolled over and began gurgling. Olivia had shot him with a tickling jinx and was now taking Albus under the arm and hauling him backward.

"Oi! Who's tha' then!" As if things, couldn't get any worse or more confusing. Hagrid's bushy head was seen bobbing forward from his hut; he had evidently heard the racket.

"Hurry!" Max called to Olivia as Al was desperately trying to regain his footing which was difficult because of how fast Olly was dragging him away from the lake.

"W-w-wat-water!" Stella gasped as Max carried her in the sheet across the grounds. "Need- water!"

"Where are we going to get water? Not the lake!" called Scorpius.

"There!" called Rose.

Behind the hill, Hagrid was hurrying from was a wheelbarrow full of wood.

"But how are we going to-" Max started, Stella still gasping in his arms. But he stopped as Hagrid caught sight of the merman writhing on the ground and rushed forward. "Quickly, quickly!"

With their heads lowered and their hearts thumping, they took a burst of speed across the hills, praying to Merlin that Hagrid wouldn't hear them. Al couldn't breathe. His gash opened and closed with every step he took and his shirt was now trying to stick to the blood. Olivia made it to the wheelbarrow first and dumped the wood to the ground.

Stella screeched as she tried desperately to catch air. It was more painful for Al to watch than his wound.

" _Aguamenti!_ " Olivia whispered. A small gust of water left her wand to soak the bottom to the barrow but in no way filled it.

" _Aguamenti!_ " Rose tried to help. Hers didn't do much either. Together, she, Olivia, and Scorpius repeated the incantation causing water to fill the wheelbarrow the same speed as though you were feeling a sink; but it wasn't fast enough.

Stella hiccupped, and her breathing slowed. Her eyes began to fall as her chest heaved one last time.

Al gritted his teeth in pain as he ripped his wand from his back pocket and bellowed,

" _Aguamenti!_ " loud enough for Hagrid to easily hear. The wheelbarrow filled with water as Max dropped Stella quickly into it. She gasped as she inhaled gulps of water.

"Albus!" called Rose. "You're hurt!"

"Run!" said Al, limping away. "RUN!"

Hagrid was bellowing something in their direction though they couldn't see him due to the hill nor could they hear him over the sound of their own shuffling feet, heavy breaths, and pounding hearts.

"Where are we taking her!" Olly asked.

"Not the lake!" called Max.

"Maybe the other side!"

"Too risky, not enough time!"

"Think faster guys! What has a great mass of water?"

"The prefect bathroom! That has a swimming pool size tub!"

"Prefects use the prefect bathroom!"

"The kitchens? Those sinks are pretty large."

"Too much traffic!"

"Oh my God, I'm gonna be sick."

"The gardens!"

"The creek isn't big enough!"

"Behind the waterfall is a cave! Al and I found it before Christmas!"

"Filtch!"

Everyone streaked to a halt behind a castle corner causing a great deal of Stella's water to splash out. She pushed herself deeper. She had gills of both her neck and her waist.

"Where?"

Rose pointed to the oak front doors in the distance. Filtch had just unlocked the doors and was starting toward the grounds.

"What's he doing? That man never gets sunlight," whispered Max.

They heard Filtch whistle shrilly. "Come on Nestly! Tututut! Come back to daddy!"

"Scorpius!" Rose barked.

Scor covered her mouth where she slapped his hand away.

The entrance to the gardens was directly pass Filtch and down a hill. They would have to hike at least five miles to get there the other way.

"How do we get pass him?" Max whispered.

Filtch was now duck-walking while clapping his hands together and making kissing noises for his cat.

"We'll have to sprint," said Olly.

"I'm pushing Stella, in a wheelbarrow," Max said in disbelief. "I don't see how that'll work."

"She's right," Al coughed, clutching at his side. "Stella can't stay in this water much longer. It's disgusting, and she's ingesting it."

"Al, you can't even make the trip," Scorpius tried to reason with him.

"Shut up, Scor," barked Al. "I'm fine. Ready?"

He watched Olivia take Scorpius' hand as she always did when running.

"One, two- Go! Go! Go!"

Everyone put everything they could into their legs as they sprinted across the bumpy ground. Stella looked very weak and was losing much water.

"Hey! Who's that!" Filtch's wheezy shout pierced their ears, and they ran faster, keeping their heads down.

Olly took Al's hand too as he was falling behind and losing blood.

"I see you down there! Did you take Nestly?" With a backward glance, Al's heart stopped to see Flitch chasing them with his shoulder's arched and his thin hair billowing behind him, and he was gaining rather fast.

"Get it, Olly!" Max called as he hurtled toward the ivy-covered stone wall.

Olivia released the boy's hands and ran forward. She unlocked the door and swung it open as everyone fell in. Scorpius slammed the door and muttered,

"Procklock _L!_ " pointing his wand at the lock. There was a click, and everyone fell to the ground, all wondering if they had turned the corner before Filtch saw where they had gone.

"Quickly," muttered Al who hadn't dropped to the ground but likely felt like collapsing far more than anyone else. The pain in his side was becoming unbearable as his adrenalin was wearing away. "We have to get to the creek."

The house elves around the gardens doing their chores, watched them go by curiously but said nothing about one bleeding and four sweaty students pushing a mermaid around in a wheelbarrow. Luckily, the creek was in the Spring season which was the first you come to. The creek was babbling under a willow where fresh grass blew lightly in the faint wind, but where they wanted to go was at the very end. Stella was gripping the sides of her ride and staring, wide-eyed, at everything and seemed especially fascinated in a ladybug that had just landed on the rim beside her.

"There," said Scorpius, pointing to a small waterfall ahead which was surrounded by shallow water and daisies. "Just beneath."

Max pushed the Stella into the creek which was only knee deep. Everyone else wadded in as well and ducked their heads under the fresh water that was showering down. There were a couple shouts as everyone fell armpit deep into the water. Al had forgotten to mention that it was deeper on this side. He pushed his hair away to see a small space, about the side of his dormitory bathroom. Behind them, the water shielded the area from view. If Olivia had never pushed him down the waterfall causing him to slide behind it, he never would have known that it was here. Max tipped the cart sideways, allowing Stella to fall out.

She dove under and emerged a moment later with a large smile.

"The water is wonderful!" she sang. "So clean!"

"Stella?" Al asked.

"Albus Potter! I am so sorry!" she interrupted, gliding over and pressing her hand to his wound which caused him to inhaul and flinch. "You are hurt because of me! Melic stabbed you!"

"It'll heal," he assured her, turning slightly red.

"No, no, Albus Potter, it won't!" she said quickly. "It'll only get larger and more painful with time! It will not heal on its own, and it will become infected, and if not treated quickly, you may never heal!"

"What!" called Rose, swimming forward and ripping Al's shirt open to see the gash that Al only thought was stinging more because of the lack of adrenalin. "How?"

"Rosie!" Max remembered, slapping a hand to his head. "Professor Dalbert, he told us that merpeople soak their spears in water demon poison! Al, we have to get you help!"

"How long do I have?" Al asked Stella who looked extremely sorry.

"Hours, Albus Potter. Hours until your wound is untreatable."

"Here, Stella," Al started, thinking that he had time. He pulled a Widdicker Worbeck long sleeve shirt from his side bag, which was now blood stained, and handed it to her.

She took it looking confused. "Albus Potter, you need help!" she said quickly.

"What I need, is to get you a better shirt," Al shook his head. "Otherwise this whole trip would have been for nothing."

Stella pulled the shirt over her Mimbleton Dukes t-shirt and waited as Albus handed her a container of food.

"Luckily, I had it sealed," he smiled painfully. "I'll bring you some new books later. How's your English coming?"

"Fine, but, please go," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I don't want you dead."

"Albus, come on," Scorpius tried pulling on his arm, but Al pulled away.

"I'll leave, Stella, one you tell me what in the world happened," said Al.

"They found me, Albus Potter," Stella started hurriedly. "They've been looking for me, and they found me on my way to see you. There was a chase, and threats and Melic caught me, as you know."

"But, won't he recognize us?"

"Al, come one, please," Rose pleaded.

"No, most merpeople can't see well above water. I can because I am a closer descendant to human and am a 'bright-eyed.'"

Albus nodded thoughtfully.

"Albus! Leave!" Stella was finally done. She hugged Al tightly, then pushed him through the waterfall.

He was about to climb back in, he had more questions, but his friends swept out right after and took him under the arms and aggressively drug him from the creek.

Albus tried to walk on his own, but there were too many arms supporting him to allow that.

"Yoman!" Al called suddenly, pulling away from his friends where he fell to the ground and shouted slightly.

"No, Al!" Olivia barked. "Not now! We need to get you to the-"

"Yoman!" Al called again, getting to his feet and hurrying toward the tall elf with a red string around his pillowcase of a gown and a long nose. Yoman turned and frowned.

"What happened?" he called in a squeaky voice.

"Nothing," Al lied. "Look, I need your help."

"Master, you is losing a lot of blood!" the elf squeaked.

"You know that waterfall in Spring?"

"Yes sir, but, your side!"

"There is a girl behind it."

"A girl?"

"I need you to take care of her. Get her food and a few books, only for a little while. I will be back shortly to tend to her."

"But sir, why is there a girl behind the waterfall?"

"I'll explain it all later, but I need you to listen carefully. You must tell no one about her. Okay?"

"Sir, if a Professor comes to Yoman asking, I is to be answering truthfully!"

"Tell them only what they need to know. Dance around the truth."

"House elves can't dance."

"Yoman! Please?"

Yoman stared into Al's eyes then down to his cut.

"I is to be tending to her until you return," he replied.

"Thank you!" Al cried, dropping to his knees and letting his head fall on the elf's tiny shoulder. He felt too weak to go anywhere else at the moment.

Something lifted him, and he felt his feet sliding across the grass. Al tried to open his eyes, but they felt heavy, and he just wanted to pass out, and maybe he had because he suddenly found that his friends were lifting him onto a freshly laundered hospital cot. Albus opened his eyes ever so slightly. Rose was sobbing beside him, her small hands in his. He tried to pat her hands comfortingly. Scorpius was pacing the room with his hands in his hair frantically. Olivia was gone and Max touching his wound, and Al had no idea at first, why. Their faces became blurry as his pain became more intense. He remembered the Matron come sweeping into view, her face go in and out of focus.

"You're okay."

"Are you still with us?"

"You'll be fine."

"Just breathe."

"Abbey! Get me my wand!"

"An arrow head, you say?"

"STOP HURTING HIM!"

"Rose! Stop!"

"Out! I need everyone out!"

Were the phrases Al heard distantly. He blinked a bright light from his eyes. Something excruciating and hot felt as though it was repeatedly stabbing into his wound. He screamed, and Rose hollered; she didn't seem to have left. The pain didn't stop, something slimy was being forced down his throat while he listened to Pomfrey bellow out instructions to her Apprentice, Abbey.

The last thing he remembered was Madam Pomfrey saying, "Potter, this'll hurt. I need you to take a deep breath in."

He unconsciously did so.

 **BAM!**


	29. St Mungo's

Albus rolled over. Soft fabric grazed his cheeks, and the scent of fabric softener entered his nose. He blinked slightly. Wherever he was laying was dark. Blue light illuminated his shoulders which were curled up next to his face. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to investigate where he was or wanted or go back to sleep. Instead, he tried to remember why he wasn't in his four-poster bed at Hogwarts.

What happened last? He- he was in the gardens. Why was he in the garden? He remembered Stella behind the waterfall and running across the grounds with a wheelbarrow. He remembered being wet because he had attacked the merman who had Stella by the tail and the man's spear- the man's spear had stabbed his side! That's why he was in this ward.

Al laid on his back to stare at the ceiling. Wait a minute; this wasn't the hospital wing. The hospital wing was smaller and smelled of parsley. The ceiling certainly wasn't this high and definitely didn't smell like rubbing alcohol and tea leaves.

Albus sat up suddenly. Squinting through the darkness. He saw many other beds across from him, some of which harbored other patience. None of them he recognized as Hogwarts students. The windows on one side of the wall were round and curtained. His bed was large and a mound of something covered his bedside table where his glasses were. Albus slipped them over his nose and swung his blankets from his legs. Something crinkled as he moved and feeling his side, he found that his gash bad been bandaged. But on a more important note, he was wearing one of those revolting hospital gowns. Al turned his nose upward and stood from bed.

 _Why was he in a hospital? The accident hadn't been that large. Surely Madam Pomfrey could have mended it._

The floor was cold on his bare feet as he walked from his bed. Was he allowed to leave? He didn't think he would get in trouble for it. There was a deep groan in a bed near the door.

"Water," croaked an elderly man.

Al started toward him, thinking of Stella.

"Water."

"Sir?" asked Al, stopping beside the bed to gasp as he noticed a great horn protruding from the man's head.

"Young boy, do you have water?"

"No, but, I think you do." Al took a pitcher from the man's bedside table and poured it into an empty glass before handing it to the man.

He drank quickly, allowing dripples down his chin.

"What happened?" Al asked after a moment of staring.

The man smacked his lips together, savoring to drink.

"Urstwhile," he said gruffly, handing the glass back to Al.

"What?"

"My name, Urstwhile."

"Oh, uh, Potter," said Al, not thinking that the man had heard his previous question.

Urstwhile widened his eyes and looked at Al closer. "Potter? I was beginning to think I'd never see you about."

"Really? How long was I out?"

Urstwhile yawned and laid back down, muttering, "Eh, I wasn't- wasn't counting."

"Mr. Urstwhile?" Al tried, but the man had already fallen back to sleep.

How long _had_ he been out? It couldn't have been more than a couple of nights. Albus shook his head and started toward the exit. He was sure he knew where he was now. St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was the only type of place to treat people with horns growing from their head. The door squeaked when he pushed it open and the first thing he did, was read the sign over his door.

 _Room of Recovery_

Recovery? How bad was his accident? It was only a scratch! A very painful scratch, but still. The halls were dark, and his feet made slapping noises as he continued down the corridor. On the other side of adjacent rooms came sounds like cats purring, adults crying like infants, flapping, and whistling. Alone, at night, in a hospital corridor, Albus was afraid.

He was becoming tired, and his legs began to hurt from walking though he had so far done little. Why was he so sore? It was as though he hadn't used his legs for days. Albus yawned deeply, and his head began to fall, but at this point, he didn't know his way back to his room, so he continued down stairs. At one point, he bent low and slapped the floor before remembering that this wasn't one of his and Scorpius' stunts. Scor wasn't even here.

He shuffled down halls and stairs and wards until he emerged into an open room. Traffic could be heard from outside, and a woman sat behind a desk with her head on her arms, fast asleep. Chairs lined the dull beige walls and in one of them, was his father.

"Dad!" Al called, then silenced himself as the woman behind the counter snored loudly.

Albus crept closer. Harry Potter sat in a dull green chair with his head back and asleep. His hair was messier than usual, and his round glasses slid down his nose. He was still in his work robes and looking exhausted. Al sat beside his father, not wanting to wake him up. Al's head began to loll again, and he rested it on his dad's shoulder and dozed as well.

"No, Ginny, I just woke, and there he was."

"You didn't carry him or anything?"

"Of course not; he was conscious."

"But he didn't stir when you had him brought back up?"

"No."

Albus squinted and wrinkled his nose due to the blinding light shining in his face. He opened one eye and tilted his head so the beam of sunlight would fall beside his pillow, not on his face. He was back in the hospital bed in the recovery ward. This confused Al. He had very faint memories of walking down the corridors and finding his dad. Perhaps that was just a dream. He peered across the room and saw a familiar horn visible over the foot of Urstwhile's bed. So, he wasn't a dream.

His mother, Ginny, was talking frantically with his father directly beside him while a few healers carried breakfast trays among the patients.

"Mom?" Al croaked weakly.

Ginny spun around, and a tear sprung from her eye.

"Albus! Oh, sweetheart, you're awake!" She began kissing him all over the face.

"Mom! Stop!" Al cried, turning red.

"Oh, I've missed you so much!"

Harry sat beside Al and ruffled his hair. "Been a bit, huh?"

"But- but wasn't I just-?"

"Yeah, you wandered from your room and found me downstairs," he laughed slightly. "We had you brought back up."

"Oh, okay. I was just wondering if I had mad."

Nobody spoke. Harry and Ginny were both watching him closely, beaming. Albus was starting to become slightly awkward.

"Where's- where's Scor, and Rose, and-"

"They're all outside," Ginny interrupted.

"They've been here the whole time?" Al exclaimed, feeling sorry.

"Uh, no," Harry said, rubbing the back of his head. "Son, do you know how long you've been out?"

"No," Al replied, not liking the look of his father's face. "What? Has it been a week already? Dad! I'm gonna miss the Quidditch match!"

His parents didn't say anything; they both looked somber.

Al's eyes grazed the room. He looked at a small table beside his bed to find a foot of parchment that looked like homework. Then his eyes landed on the mass from his bedside cabinet from the night before. Piles of sweets covered the desk. He saw get well cards, _newspapers_ , and packages, and- and _Valentines_ , and… and…

He looked back at his parents, catching on.

"It's February?" she shouted. "But it was mid-January when I passed out!"

"Son," said Harry kindly, placing a hand on Al's leg and shifting his eyes, thinking. "It's the beginning of May."

Albus just stared. He was at a loss. He had missed three and a half months of school, of Quidditch, of- "Stella!" Al exclaimed.

"Who?"

"Uh, nothing! What happened? Why was I out so long? I didn't die!" He remembered what dying felt like.

"How about I get Rose," said Ginny. "She's been practicing the whole speech."

Al waited impatiently as Ginny left to fetch Rose. Harry was still silent and looking sad.

Al was about to say something when the door to the ward flew open, and Rose barged in followed by James and Lily.

"ALBUS!" she cried, jumping on his bed and squeezing him.

Lily climbed on his bed as well and curled up in his arms, and began to cry.

"Nice to have you back," James smiled, taking Al's glasses from the pile of gifts and slipping it over his brother's nose.

"Albus! You idiot!" Rose called suddenly. "Why didn't you go straight to the hospital wing! This whole thing could have been avoided!"

"That's enough, Rose," said Ginny with her eyebrows raised.

"What happened?" Al asked, sitting up.

"Well," Rose started. "I haven't gotten it all worked out yet. Your healer, Madam Pillk, was really confusing, but I'll give it a shot; try to keep up. From the beginning, after you were walking along the lake's edge during breakfast and _fell on a merperson's spearhead wedged in the ground_ ," she winked at Al. "We rushed you to the hospital wing. But Madam Pomfrey was frantic when she learned that the spearhead was soaked in water demon venom. She tried for a good hour to close the wound, tried everything, but nothing worked, so she had you sent here. The reason you were out for so long, Al, is because the healers had to shut your body down. You were in more than a coma, you were pretty much dead. They had to stop your heart, and your breathing, and your brain. See, your body was trying to heal itself. It was sending blood cells to the scene of the attack. But the poison that was spreading quickly through your body killed every last cell on first contact. Your heart couldn't keep up. Your cells would die, you were losing so much blood, not outwardly. But your body was so cluttered with dead blood cells that they were clogging your major arteries, even your heart. You started going into cardiac arrest; it was scary. So, what ended up happening was, the healer – for lack of better words – put you to sleep. They needed to get your body to stop sending cells to the wound so they could magically mend it. But, they had to mend it slowly, otherwise when you wake, your body would go into shock. That's what we were told and that is the best way I can describe it to you."

The room became silent as Al thought. "So, so, I've missed everything?"

"Not everything," said James. "You did miss Valentine's day, and two Slytherin matches, and our Gryffindor match against Ravenclaw, and a lot of homework, but the good news is, you don't have to take exams this year! Well, they're having you do your missed work during the summer, and then you'll take a private exam at home; Neville has offered to oversee it. But you have one more Slytherin match, which you can't participate in, of course, but you can at least be awake while it's going on."

This didn't cheer Al up at all.

"Why did I wake up now? How long do I have to stay?"

"The healers were slowly bringing you to. We didn't know what day you would wake, so one of us stayed every night. And, they'll want to keep you for a couple more weeks until you've made a full recovery," said Harry.

"But I feel fine!" called Albus, sitting up still more. "I want to go now!"

"They won't let you do that, hun," said Ginny, fluffing his pillow and pushing him back down. "You still have a lot of crap in your system."

Something banged on the outside of door and muffled shouts were audible.

"Oh! That's Max and everyone! Let them in Aunt Ginny!" called Rose excitedly.

"Excuse me," said Ginny, standing up and making her way toward the door.

After a bit of arguing, Max, Scorpius, and Olivia came sprinting into view. Harry and Ginny left to speak to the grumpy healers who were trying to keep them out.

"Finally!" called Scorpius. "I was beginning you think you'd never wake!"

Olivia propped herself onto the bottom of his bed, and Max sat on the side, looking exhausted but cheerful.

"Guys!" Al exclaimed. He couldn't tell if be felt joyful to see them all there, or depressed at all he had missed.

"We have so much to tell you!" said Olivia, slapping his leg.

"Really? Is it about-?" He stopped to look at his two siblings still beside his bed. "Uh, could I have a minute?" he asked.

"I'll get you some breakfast," said James with a wink at his brother. "Come on Lily, help me carry it all!" And they both left the room.

Albus was confused to find James so willing to leave. "A lot less nosey now, isn't he?" said Al.

"He's just happy to have you back," said Max. "You should have seen him! Broke into tears, he did."

"Really?"

"Al! Sugamina is up and running better than ever!" Rose exclaimed.

Al's heart dropped a little. Could it be so much better without him?

"Rosebud here had taken on general, she's worse than you Al," said Scorpius.

"How's Stella?" Al asked the question he most wanted answered.

"She's great!" said Rose. "She does blame herself for this whole thing, but she'll be thrilled to know you up. Yoman has been taking excellent care of her! He brings her food and drinks and spends a lot of time behind the waterfall helping her read. He's no good with grammar, though."

"You can hardly tell she hasn't got the functions to speak above water properly!" said Olivia. "She still has the accent, but otherwise, she almost sounds human."

"Rose, tell him about the-"

"Oh my God, yes!" Rose remembered. "There was a search through the school for Stella. Apparently, the chief merman came to the surface to alert Hagrid who informed Professor Kemp who was instructed to investigate her whereabouts in the school. The wounded merman that you had attacked said that he thought he saw five Hogwarts students taking Stella and running. Hagrid suspects us more than ever now. I mean, you turn up in the hospital with a merperson spear head at your side the same day and around the same time that Stella was taken above land. I think the merpeople now believe Stella to be dead; they can't live above water after all. But Olivia vouge for your _actual whereabouts_ during the event and for some reason, everyone believes her."

"Punctuality," said Olivia proudly.

"Oh, Al!" called Scorpius. "Wait until you get a load of Hagrid's new pet! It's hilarious! But we haven't been to see him as often; he keeps trying to interrogate us."

"Off topic, Scor," said Max.

"But this!" Rose started, finally reaching the point she was really excited to divulge. She pulled from her robe pocket, a tattered old book. Al took it curiously. "Do you know what this is?"

"Imperative given the look on your face," said Albus.

"This is the biggest lead we could have possibly hopped for. We found it in the Marauders safe under Max's floor. It was extremely difficult to uncover; the thing was hidden under two layers of rock guarded by spell. Look, look, look! I got a scar because of it; fire shot up. We ended up having Hugo get it; we were he only one small enough to unwedge it."

"Are you going to tell me what it is soon?"

"The Marauders actually documented their steps to become animagi in. This. Book!"

Al's heart stopped. He tore it open for the first time. Among splattered ink, magical dust, and enchantments were words and notes and pictures all regarding their transformation. And it was all in James Potter's handwriting.

"With this!" Scorpius started. "We should have Stella humanized by the end next semester! We're leaving it with you when we go back to school; we can't stay here over night."

Al didn't say anything; he didn't have to either. His friends beamed up at him.

The following weeks were not completely boring. He opened his gifts and sweets and his Valentines, some of which were from girls he didn't even know existed. He received a series of visitors as well, all on separate days. He was visited by all of his cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents, of course, then the Gryffindor Quidditch team whose visit lasted all day. The Slytherin team came to see him and gave him a play by play from the last two matches. They told him that he had been replaced by Missy Vervus who was a speedy seeker but not in his same league. He was seen by Professor Dalbert, Yoman, the whole Merik family, and Draco and Astoria, though he had never had a proper conversation with them before.

Rose, Max, Scorpius, and Olivia had to attend school but visited every day and didn't attend the last match of the season, Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw. They all camped on Al's bed with food and drinks to watch through the magic hand mirror that Rose had given to Roxanne so she could let them view the game live from the commentator's box. Ravenclaw won the Quidditch cup, but it was still a heart-stopping game.

Albus spent the days where his friends were doing school and his father was at work, trying to catch up on his homework. It had become much more complicated and he wasn't allowed to brew potions atop his bed or in the hospital at all. What he could do when giving his brain a break from school. Was study the mysteries book that had once belonged to the Marauders. Every time he opened it, he found something that was crucial in Stella's reverse transformation.

He had been told that he would be well enough to go back to Hogwarts during the last week of term for the feast. This was rather sad as he wanted to be back right now. But he also was sure the healer knew what she was talking about. He did feel drowsy and weak, though he wouldn't admit it. Instead, he laid back in his white linin bed for the night, hoping to sleep the days away until he could return to Hogwarts.


	30. Nightmare

Rose shoveled breakfast foods into her mouth as quick as possible. Today was a very important day. She and her friends had an appointment to visit Stella during the last half hour of breakfast; then they had classes, then Al would be sent back to school. The past few months had been some of the hardest for Rose. Though she spent most of the first semester apart from her cousin, she hadn't realized how much she needed him until he was completely gone. Especially the days he was unconscious. She had taken many sleepless night and risks and a couple of detentions to carry on Sugamina. Albus was nearly dead for that time, but his vision was not. Scorpius worked harder than ever in studies and planning. He was much more of a book nerd than Rose thought even she was. He would use references, document everything they had learned and created schedules and time slots to work their task around classes. Max had taken on the heavier weight of the physical magic behind Transfiguration. It was a mark of how much he cared about the cause that he set apart a time every night for Rose to teach him Transfiguration theory. He had successfully transformed a guppy into a shell during one of their earlier classes; Professor Donima had been so pleased and shocked that she rewarded Gryffindor thirty points. Olivia was their everything. Rose couldn't fathom what would have happened to them or how many times they would have been caught if it weren't for her. She had the trust of the teachers in the palm of her hand to toy with had she pleased. She was never late, never behind, and never slow. Her studying was frantic and fast, and she always found what they were all looking for by mere instinct. She would end up in an area completely unrelated to their search and come back with the answer they needed. She was always there to hear rumors flying, some regarding Sugar's peculiar behavior, and she always brought them back in time to crush it.

Yoman had been relentless with Stella. They seemed to have formed a bond. He would teach her tricks and common phrases. He would have her read to him while he wove baskets in the cave behind the waterfall. He gave her blankets and taught her music and art and crafting. Rose couldn't voice her thanks for Yoman enough.

What really pushed Sugamina to the next level wasn't the Marauder's book which was by far the biggest discovery of their year, but it was when they had come to give Stella an update on Albus. She had shown them what Yoman had taught her and produced a small flame in the palm of her hand. This had made everyone freeze where they were, and Stella first assumed that she had killed them somehow. They didn't get a clear answer regarding their question whether this was a type of muggle trick like Scorpius' or if she perhaps had magic. Because if she did, then there is a possibility that she will be a witch when she transforms and could attend Hogwarts. Nobody had mentioned this to Albus when visiting him that evening. They all thought it best for him to see himself.

"Rose, calm down, you're gonna choke," said Max, taking a swig of orange juice.

"You have to hurry, Max!" she called. "We're going to be late!"

"No we're not," he smiled. "I know you're excited, but you need to relax."

"Come on!" Rose stood from the table and took Max by the arm and heaved him from the hall.

"I can walk on my own," he said.

"Not quick enough," she muttered as they exited the great hall.

"No?" Max smiled and took off with a burst of speed. Rose chased after him.

They jumped over roots and stumps and navigated their way around the hilly ground. The day was warm, and hot sun shone upon their backs. While running, it wasn't long until they reached the ivy covered stone wall. Muttering the unlocking spell, Max pushed the door open, and they both waltzed in. As usual, the smell of peppers and flowers met them as their spirits rose a great deal.

"Scor and Olivia should already be there," said Max, glancing at Rose's watch. "I think they used the mantle serpent through the broom shed."

"We have fifteen minutes until we're supposed to be in class," said Rose, becoming worried that they won't make it in time.

"We'll be fine. We just have to pop by, say hi, tell her when to expect Al and we'll be good."

Rose waded into the stream in spring and ducked her head under the waterfall to fall breast deep into cool water on the other side. They could use an incantation to part the waterfall so not to get drenched, but it was no use as they fell deeper on the other side anyway. People back at school were beginning to whisper regarding why they always showed up to class soaking wet.

Scorpius was already in the cave, a ball of light above their heads to illuminate. Yoman had built himself a wooden perch and was sitting on it with Stella's books while Stella herself splashed around in the water excitedly.

"You told her didn't you?" said Rose.

"It slipped, sorry," said Scorpius looking guilty.

Rose smiled and shook her head. She had been very easy on Scorpius since Al had been hospitalized. Albus was his best friends, and they were never apart. If this was hard for her, she couldn't imagine how it must have been for Scorpius, but he had formed a closer friendship with Olivia since then.

"He's coming back! He's- back!" Stella sang as she dived in and out of the water. Rose lowered her head under the surface to here snippets of Stella's song ring beautifully below the water. "When?" Stella suddenly grabbed Rose by the arms, grinning.

"This afternoon, after classes," Rose replied.

"He's all better?"

"Better enough. Look, Stella, we can't stay long, we have to be at class," said Rose.

"Yes!" cried Stella suddenly. "Do not get into trouble again. Go, go, go! Learn magic! Olly has already left!" She pushed them through the waterfall as they heard more singing from the other side.

They had to run through the kitchens to make it to Charms in time, Scorpius in Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick was teaching them gusting charms, to spurt wind from your wand. This lesson was inspired by Rose and Max's puddles that they trailed wherever they went. By the end of class, the two were completely dry owning to Professor Flitwick having the students practice on them. Scorpius waltzed up from a passing corridor as Max and Rose, Scorpius and Olivia passed for different classes. Scorpius stopped to show them a beautiful hourglass that had once been goblet and Max stopped to complain about how much homework they were given seeing as exams were tomorrow and nobody had time for revising and homework.

Rose sat in the common room, cluttered with school papers and books and quills and she was sure that the wet something growing on her leg was her ink bottle which she had lost a couple of hours ago. Everyone in the Gryffindor common room seemed to be in the same state. Most of everyone from that house had procrastinated in revising and was now paying the price. Rose's mind wasn't on Hepple the 2nd's failed proclamation degree for History of Magic but on Al. Her foot was tapping the floor like a bunny and Max stopped it with his shoe.

"Rose, focus," she said, staring back down at his previous potions essays.

"I can't, Max!" she exclaimed and was hushed by many people. "I want to see Albus! It's been forever, and he should be arriving at the castle any minute!"

"You can see Al any day," Max tried. "But we only have one shot at these exams."

Rose scowled and clutched her hand mirror tighter. Al was supposed to buzz her when he made it. She tried as hard as she could to focus, but the words on the paper were passing through her brain like Professor Binns words. Max scooted on the floor beside her and began unburying Rose from all her papers and books.

"Look," he started, taking her notes from her lap and pulling his quill from her hair. "Professor Binns said that _these_ lessons would be in the exams." He began circling particular names and title pages. "Now, it won't be as bad as you think. Remember last year? You finished your quiz in fifteen minutes. You know the stuff, Rose, you just need to focus. Now, when was Bernard Bollicks knighted to be goblin king?"

Max spent the next hour forcing her to focus and answer questions. She was spitting out answers that she didn't know she knew.

"See?" said Max, smiling, as he shut her History of Magic school book. "It's all in your head. It all there, you just need to learn how to grab it."

"Ow!" she called.

"What? What'd I do?" Max asked hurriedly, scooting away from her.

"Not you. Somethings – Ow! – something hot is touching me!" She jumped up and began digging through her mess until she found what was burning her. The enchanted hand mirror.

"Oh!" she screeched. "Oh! He's here!"

"Well answer it!" Max laughed.

"Right!" Rose swiped her hand across the face of the mirror. Al's rippled into view. "Albus!" she called.

"Hey! Guess who's back!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm in the library with Scor and Olly. Come on down."

Rose dropped the mirror and had to parkour across heads of students and all their junk. She slipped through the portrait hole with Max and didn't stop until she fell into the library. Max lifted her by her arms where sprinted in the rest of the way and looked around.

"Garren!" she called.

"Rose, this is a library. Don't yell," Garren the librarian whispered from behind a shelve.

"Where's Al?"

"Your little dude is in the Magical Beast section," Garren replied.

"Thanks." Rose ran across the wood floor until she spotted Al's messy black hair behind a table. Rose slid across it until she tackled him in a hug.

"You're back!" she cried.

"And you're squeezing me!" he choked.

"Oh, sorry."

"Quidditch muscle," said Al, rubbing at his shoulders.

"Let me see it! Your scar!"

Al lifted his shirt to show them a faint pink line across his side.

"Now you and your dad both have scars," she said.

Rose forced him into a library chair. "We have so much to tell you!"

They talked for hours about everything and not just Sugamina. They told him about classes, and Quidditch, who's dating who now, and exams. He learned about who's winning the house cup and their detentions. After they had said everything they could think to say, it was Al's turn. He told them about how scary the hospital is at night, about Urstwhile and his poor conversational skills. He talked to them about his impossible homework and intense desire to brew a potion. But most of all, he told them all he had riddled out in the Marauders book of animagi. This sparked must talk, and discussion as the two parties perceived some passages differently and needed to be understood and riddled out. They were discussing the second page when Garren tapped them on the shoulder.

"Come on dudes, it's nine twenty-five, and the Professors are awfully cranky because of exams tomorrow. You need to get to bed."

They took his advice and ran to their common rooms. Both Max and Rose tripped over Elvy Balimp as they burst through the portrait hole. Rose now had no excuse not to focus on her least favorite subject, Astronomy. Max helped her more now than ever. It was past midnight, and the common had hardly emptied at all. Rose was resting against the sofa, a little too comfortable as Max poked her roughly awake to thrust her buzzing mirror into her hands.

"What?" Rose mumbled, half out of it. She swiped her hand across the glass and waited as Albus' face appeared with Scor beside him. They were both moving quickly somewhere dark and windy.

"Rose!" Al breathed heavily. "Rose, Stella can do magic!"

"Really!" she said in surprise with a sideways look at Max who was nodding. "How do you know?"

"She levitated a mushroom!"

"She what?" Rose was actually surprised by this. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Yoman was cleaning mushrooms, and she levitated one to me so I could try it!"

"But that's impossible! She's not even a human yet!"

"Unless this is some sort of elf magic!"

"But, merpeople don't know how to-" she stopped as Max snatched the mirror and hung up.

"What's tha?" asked Ben, jumping on the sofa and trying to see the mirror.

"It's none of your business," said Max angrily.

"I heard da word mermaid. Is this 'bout the search tha the school were doin a lille bit back?"

"Go away, Ben," said Rose.

"I still think you guys was a part of the whole thing," he nodded. "It only makes sense."

Rose stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder. "You should be studying, Ben," she said. "I saw your last mark for Herbology. Perhaps you should stop sticking your nose in other people's business and focus on your own problems." She strode toward the staircase where Max met her.

"I'll have Olly obliviate him in the morning."

Something was nipping at her hand. Rose waved it away. The nipping continued harder. "Cromwell, go away," she mumbled, rolling over. The nipping stopped. Cromwell suddenly swung forward and slapped her in the face with his wings. She sat up abruptly. "What!" she called. The owl hopped up and down on her school bag. "Ugh, I don't have classes today," she mumbled. "Today I have- EXAMS!" She sprung out of bed, grabbed her bag and flew from the room, before turning back to get dressed.

She had slept through breakfast! She had the Potions exam first! Rose jumped down stairs, four at a time, being sure to skip the yellow stone steps. She cursed Gryffindor being in a tower when potions were in the dungeons. The entire rest of the school was empty. She alone was late and listening to her heart thump. _Why hadn't Max woken her?_ Well, it wasn't entirely his responsibility, now was it? Rose skidded into the dungeons. It was empty. But, she was sure that potions were first. Rose took her schedule from her bag and examined it. She had Transfiguration first! Rose, heart thumping, ran as fast as she could to get to the Transfiguration corridor.

"I'm so sorry Professor Don-" She stopped. The classroom was empty too.

Why was the classroom empty?

Rose was in tears as she ran all throughout the castle. Every classroom, every office, every corridor was deserted. She was alone. Rose ran to the only place she knew there would be life. Ducking under the waterfall, she found no one. Where was Stella? Where was Yoman or any of the other house elves?

Her legs were going to give. She was breathing great gulps of air as she tried to catch her breath. Rose entered the entrance hall and fell to her knees.

"Professor Kemp!" Rose cried, seeing a figure near her with a pipe between their teeth. "Professor Kemp! Where is everyone? I have exams!"

"Everyone has gone home, Weasley," said Kemp, stopping to stare at her on the floor. "I am sorry, young lady, but you have failed your exams. You will not be enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry next year. Go home."

"Please, Professor!" Rose sobbed. "Let me take the tests! I know the answers! I revised!"

"Go home, Miss Weasley."

Rose stood up and wiped her eyes. "When will the train leave for Chilrey?"

"Oh, you're not going to that home," he shook his head and removed his pipe. "No, no, no. Your parents don't want a failure; you have contaminated the Weasley name. No, a woman has kindly offered to take you in."

"What? Who? Where is she?"

"She is in a place called Elvinshire."

 _Elvinshire? Why did that sound so familiar?_

"I have forgotten her name, but she said something about a ransom. You will be meeting her shortly."

Elvinshire… Elvin- ELVINSHIRE!

"No, Professor! Please! Don't send me there! She wants to kill me!"

"You know, I do believe I am remembering a name. Yes, it is the name of a flower. My, you two do have something in common. I think it was, hold on… oh yes! Belladonna. Now isn't that a pretty name. I'm sure you will have a marvelous time with her."

"Professor! Please! I can't go with her! She's a monster! A monster!"

Something cold and boney gripped Rose by the arms. Rose tried to fight away. She looked up into the sallow gaunt face of Belladonna Drury. Her stringy black hair hung over her shoulders as the smell of rot and decay entered Rose's nostrils.

"You're mine now, you little rat!" she hissed. "What a lovely ransom for my dear Sylas."

"Get off me!" Rose screamed. "Professor, help!" But Kemp turned and walked away. The room grew dark. Rose tried to swing and punch at Belladonna, but her arms were locked at her side. Belladonna gripped her arms tighter and began dragging her across the floor, into the darkness. Rose screamed and sat up.

"Rose!" She turned her head and jumped back in fear. Max stared at her, looking more like his mother than ever. "Rose, what's wrong?"

"I- it was-" she breathed heavily. She was in her four-poster bed in her dormitory. Max was gripping her by her arms while her blankets were wrapped tightly around her torso. "It- it was nothing."

Max continued to stare in fear. Rose's other roommates were watching worriedly too.

"Come on," said Max. "We have breakfast, then our first day of exams." He pulled her out of bed and waited while she dressed in the bathroom; it took her longer than usual. Her face was pale and her palms sweaty. She hadn't had a nightmare like that in months. Belladonna hadn't shown all year as Rose feared she might. But the absence scared Rose more than her returning. The absence meant that Belladonna Drury was not going to sweep Max in a whim; she was planning something more terrible than any twelve-year-old could be ready for.

She and Max ran down the steps and made it for breakfast. Rose looked at her schedule. Potions were first.

Professor Killpii had them brew a Wicked Glory draft. Rose knew exactly how it was done and was sure she had gotten it right when she ladled it into a vile to be placed on Killpii's desk and graded. Max's was peach when it was supposed to be burnt orange.

"At least you tried this time," said Scorpius who was covered in ash and not feeling too confidant on the green of his potion.

They turned a pillow into a rock during transfiguration, had a chair river dance in charms, and got to blow things up in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Herbology was disgusting as usual as everyone skinned water plumbs which screamed as you pulled the peeling away. Everyone felt terrible though they knew the plant couldn't feel pain. History of magic was easy and long, and dry, and boring, and slow, and redundant. Rose knew the answers but couldn't remember how to spell most of the names; she hoped that wouldn't be part of the grade.

Poor Al to be sent back to school in the week that nobody was about and everyone was short-tempered.

It was Astronomy that Rose was sure she had failed at. Max had taught her the ratios, and diameters of planets, how to read constellations, and how to pinpoint the exact location of certain stars even if you can't see them in the night. Rose could see nothing. She remembered the numbers, widths, and counts for planets, so she jotted those down; Rose hoped that would do something for her grade. She couldn't make out the constellations or moons or planets, which was the base of the exam.

In the end. Everyone has been particularly grateful that the exam week was over. They now had two days left of doing absolutely nothing.


	31. Books and Broomsticks

Exams had really taken their toll of the castle. Students were either carefree and running about, or they were frantic and nervous, remembering what they had forgotten and which questions they had gotten wrong. Rose was perfectly cheerful. She knew she had gotten some questions wrong, but she also knew that she hadn't done so bad to fail any class, except maybe Astronomy.

"Hey, Albus!" Rose called, propping herself atop a stone bench in the courtyard as a Ravenclaw was letting Al practice on their electric guitar. "Professor Kemp wanted me to give this to you." She handed him a slip of paper and a quill. Al handed the guitar back to the student and examined the parchment. "You don't have to do exams yet, but they will need this turned in before the end of term."

It was the extra-curricular classes that third years and above were required to choose. They had to at least pick three of the options. Al scratched his chin and thought.

"Which did you guys sign up for?" he asked.

"It doesn't-" Rose was about to start.

"Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies," said Max.

Rose shook her head. "I was about to say it doesn't matter because this is your future."

"You're one to talk," Max grinned. "You signed up for every class I did."

Rose blew herself up. "I happen to choose those classes because they were the most logical options for me. And all the others sounded boring."

"So, you willingly signed up for Divination because that'll help you in future?"

"If I want to pass Astronomy, then I should have a better understanding and study it through different perspectives. I didn't sign up just for you, don't flatter yourself."

Al checked Care of Magical Creatures first. "Obviously, because Hagrid teaches that class and it'll be fun. Umm, I guess divination; it's better than Arithmancy. And… why did you sign up for Muggle Studies, Max? You know nearly all there is about muggles."

"Because you pretty much meet up, play with muggle toys and watch muggle cinema all day," Max replied, opening a chocolate frog.

"Really? Well, that's check number three then!" He jotted down his answers and handed the slip back to Rose.

"You turn it in," she said, handing it back to him. "Where's Scor and Olivia?"

Al shrugged. "Don't know. They usually meet up with us whenever we need them, though. Right now, I'm learning to play guitar." He stood up and joined the Ravenclaws who had a series of instruments and were about to have a jam session.

"Hey, Max?" Rose started, as they left the courtyard through a sea of bubbles that a few seventh years were playing with. "Tonight, all of the Quidditch teams are sneaking out for a midnight game of Quidditch. It'll be huge! All the teams are merging together; we're gonna have, like, eight bludgers. I had forgotten about it last year because we were a bit, uh, preoccupied. Are you game?"

"You know I don't fly well," he said.

"But, I was just thinking. I know you enjoy it when we're not keeping score and nobody is. I think you would really enjoy it. Scor and Al are playing too!"

Max didn't respond for a moment. "Well, I suppose if it's not quite a competition…"

"YES!" Rose punched him in the arm excitedly.

"Ow."

"Watson bet me I couldn't get you to play!"

They spent the rest of the day walking around the castle, saying goodbye to their favorite portraits and taking in the sights and sounds and smells. Max and Rose met Scor, Al, and Olivia in the gardens to say goodbye to Stella. They weren't looking forward to having to explain that they will be gone for a whole summer. Stella was displeased and sad but took it better than expected. She had grown since they first met her. Scorpius suggested that she accepted the prospect because of Yoman; she knew she wouldn't be alone.

"We'll write to you over summer," said Rose to Yoman before they left.

"A student, write to Yoman?" he asked shrilly, and tears filled his eyes. "Never has a student wanted to write to an elf!"

Rose bent low. "You are more than that, Yoman. You're our friend." At this, the elf broke into hysterics.

"I can't tell if I'm looking forward to tonight, or dreading it," said Rose as they rested under an oak in the grass.

"What do you mean?" asked Olivia.

"Well, it's the big game, but it's also the last. The closer I get to it, the sooner I have to leave."

"Don't think about what is to come," said Max. "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Live right now, where you are, and take in everything the moment has to offer. That's what I do."

There a celebration in the Gryffindor common room that night, led by the flock. Fireworks were alight, songs were sung, dances were invented, and food was devoured. But unlike last year, Rose and Max joined in and enjoyed every festivity. Rose was reminded how well Max could sing and how badly he danced but he and she laughed, and they spun around the coffee table during an Americanized hoe-down.

"Grab your brooms!" Rose stopped to see Paxton Rockward swing open the common room window and bellow a cheer before taking Kennedy Stoon on the back of his broom and leaving the room.

There was an eruption of shouts as everyone scrambled for their brooms. Most Hogwarts students had one and those who didn't caught a ride with someone who did. Rose fetched her broom and managed to hoist both herself, Max, and Hugo before jumping from the window over the cliff and catching air before zooming toward the Quidditch pitch. The night was full of students flying from every direction, united for one night.

The wind swept her hair into her face as she flew. Rose touched down on the pitch and ran toward the center of the field where the school was meeting. All four Quidditch captains conjured a ledge to stand on and bellowed to the crowd.

"This is how the night will go!" called Ravenclaw captain, Delgado.

"Those who want to participate must have a broom and stay in the circle! Those who do not, take to the stands now!" called Rocky.

"We will have two teams! It doesn't matter which houses join together! There will be eight bludgers, three quaffles, but only one snitch!" Keith shouted.

"It doesn't matter which player participates in which position. Remember, this is the last game of the season, so the only thing that matters is you have fun!" said Hufflepuff captain, Lime.

"And shove those who get too competitive off their brooms!" interjected Delgado.

"I have taken the liberty of bringing the school brooms onto the pitch," said Lime. "You have three minutes to get ready and line up.

Most of the students took to the stands. Eighty were left standing in a line, some with Firebolt broomsticks, some with school brooms. Some first years, and some second. Over half the school that had shown up were wearing their pajamas and had brought snacks. Rose stood beside Hugo and Max who both had a school broom. A whistle blew, and everyone took to the air. The quaffles were released, and twenty students zoomed to retrieve it. This was the most peculiar game of Quidditch she had ever played. The crowds cheered louder than ever as sides were not taken due to the diversity. Rose laughed to see James try to catch a bludger with his bare hands as she had but fail spectacularly. Rose and Albus were able to use their psychic connection against opponents, though, she had no idea who was on her team and who wasn't. She just aimed to get the quaffle into the right hoop, hit bludgers away from her friends, and keep an eye out for the snitch; positions were irrelevant now too. Everything was going smoothly until Ishmael shouted for people's attention. Every Professor in the castle, except for Binns, was making their way onto the pitch at two forty-six in the morning.

Some students made a break back to the castle, but the captains all followed Lime as he sped to meet their fate.

Rocky tried to argue to Professor Kemp himself, but Lime stopped him and waited for Kemp to have the first word as Hufflepuffs do.

"Why, young men," Kemp started. "Do we not have commentators?"

Everyone who had landed to watch was stunned.

"Crack on, then!" Kemp called. "I didn't come all the way out here in my night dress to watch everyone stare at me. I want to see some Quidditch! I was the one to start this illegal night game in the first place!"

"Seeing as we can't punish all of you," said Donima sourly. "It seems no reason to deprive Professor Kemp of watching his legacy!"

There was a roar of approval that shook the stadium as everyone took back to the sky, now with illuminated wand tips from the entire crowd and the commendation of Roxy, Fred, and Louis.

Rose crawled up the stone steps miserably. She was sore and exhausted and wanted sleep more than anything else. That game had lasted longer and had been more intense than any she had every played or watched. A few students were passed out on the steps. Rose curled up in her bedspread on her four-poster and pulled Cromwell close. She was about to have the best sleep of her life.

The following day, the last day of term, passed faster than anyone wanted. Albus had checked with Rose before meeting Stella with a gift.

"I want you to have this," he said, handing her his enchanted hand mirror. "So we can talk to you during summer. When it becomes warm, do this, see? When you want to call Rose, tap the screen twice."

"Actually," Rose said painfully. "When you want to talk to Albus. Um, you can have mine, Al."

"But, you love that mirror!" called Al in shock.

"Yeah, but you two need each other more than I need that mirror," she smiled.

Stella smiled broadly and hugged them all. She had gotten better at this, and it wasn't so awkward anymore.

"We won't forget you, Stella," said Al, signing this last part. "We'll be working hard."

"And so will we," Stella called, tapping Yoman on the shoulder.

"What now?" asked Scorpius as they shed their cloaked due to the heat on the grounds.

"We can visit Hagrid," Al suggested.

"Uh, no," said Max. "He already suspects us for being involved, or better, in charge of the whole missing mermaid stuff and now we're soaking wet."

"He said he'd visit over the summer," said Rose. "We can see him then, Al."

"I heard Pepper Link if getting her brothers to grow a tree in the lake for swings and diving and stuff; most of the school will be swimming today, should be fun," Olivia encouraged.

"I'd rather stay clear of the lake for a little bit," said Al, pushing his glasses up his nose.

They spent the remainder of the day playing with paint balloons which Olivia had thrown at Scorpius and starting a battle which soon became a war as every student at the lake saw what they were doing and joined in. The five friends hiked back into the castle in high spirits to take their showers, then allowed their spirits to fall as Al suggested they pack. Rose felt sore as the neatly placed her books and broomstick into her trunk. She backed away and smiled. That did describe her well. Books and Broomsticks.

The feast was splendid, and they had a better appreciation for it as Yoman let slip that the elves were far behind in the preparations and causing Sugar to insist on helping. They were surprised to find half of Hufflepuff house cooking in the kitchens as well. Rose always wondered why Hufflepuff table seemed to empty until the start of the banquet. Hufflepuff, Abram Addams handed them an apron and shouted.

"Looks like we've got a few Gryffindors today! Who wants to give 'em a job?"

Illya Vizzini stepped forward with flour on his face.

"Rose!" he called happily. "Everard, Potter, Merik, Malfoy." He nodded to the rest. "What brings you down here?"

"Helping out an elf friend," said Scorpius.

"Do you help cook often?" Rose asked.

"During the feasts," Illya shrugged. "The elves really appreciate it and always leave milk and biscuits on our table in the morning. But, hey, we could really use some help breading chicken if you want!"

"Yeah, just tell us how!" called Rose.

Scorpius ended up rolling dough as he was unskilled in any of the tasks that actually required kitchen skill. Albus was trusted to make the sauce, Olivia chopped onions (she was apparently immune), Max strung peas, and Rose breaded chicken.

Her arms were getting tired rolling out the meat and soaking the breast. This was harder than Quidditch training. Illya carried the loads back and forth from the ovens and helped Rose as she was constantly tipping the egg bowl. He would laugh and start refilling it. Every now and then, she caught his eyes staring. He would blush and look away.

"Why do you keep doing that?" she asked finally as he whisked the eggs once more.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Stare at me?" She was quite blunt when she wanted to be.

Illya smiled to himself and stopped whisking to pull a clump of wet flour from her hair that had fallen from her bun.

"You remind me of someone," he said simply.

She didn't press the matter. Rose was sure she knew who she reminded him of.

The entire kitchen, half-elves half students, had to race to set everything neatly across the four mock house tables. Rose placed the serving spoons where they needed to go and straightened a few plates. Illya took her by the arms and pulled her back.

"It's time," he said.

"Are you not going to run up?" Rose asked.

"No," said Illya. "Because then everyone knew that we had helped and that's not what we want."

"But don't you want to know who won the house cup?"

"It was Ravenclaw," he said, then ticked on his fingers until they heard an eruption of noise from directly above the mock Ravenclaw table. "Then Gryffindor, then Slytherin, then Hufflepuff."

"But, if people knew what you guys do down here, surely you would receive more points."

"We don't do it for the glory," said Illya. "We do it for the elves, and do so the students can eat on time. But the elves work so much harder and get hardly any recondition, and they're fine, so why not us?"

This whole 'not wanting glory' thing was hard to grasp for the Gryffindor.

"Shhhhh!" a few of the elves hushed the whispering students in the kitchen, and everyone listened to Professor Kemp's distant voice above them.

"And now!" Kemp said muffled. "Enjoy the feast!"

One of the elves with a gold string around its gown clapped, and the food vanished from the four mock tables. Shouts and stamping and approval came from above as everyone dug in. The Hufflepuffs shouted as well and congratulated each other and slapped their friends on the back and ruffled hair; everyone had a fair amount of flour and ingredients on their face and down their front. Rose looked around at everyone celebrating. This was more fulfilling than a grand feast, but luckily, she got both. The elves set tables around the Hufflepuff mock table, and everyone gathered the leftovers that wouldn't fit in their serving bowls. They all passed the food around and served each other. This wasn't Rose's house, but she felt like she was a part of a grand family with Hufflepuff who all served with an open heart and open arms.

Rose thought about the night as she laid in bed to leave the following morning. She remembered the preparing food and serving each other, the helping clean up afterward, and the dancing on tables like lunatics after one too many butterbeers. She had danced with Illya on the table as everyone clapped to the beat of the fiddle that Sonic Dubeye had played; there also seemed to be a bagpipe somewhere, but Rose hadn't stopped to investigate; she had fun. She rolled over and stroked Cromwell's feathers and smiled to herself.

"You will write this summer, won't you?" Rose asked as the train puffed away from one of her favorite places in the world.

"We all will," said Scorpius. "Oh, here's my address Olly." He scribbled it down on a piece of parchment for her. "So your owl can find me."

"My owl can find anyone with only instinct," said Olly, slipping the parchment into her pocket. "And she will arrive earlier than any other."

"Max, please write longer letters than last year," Rose pleaded. "I thought you didn't want to talk last summer."

"I'll write," said Max.

"And talk about yourself more," Rose demanded. "I want to hear how you're doing."

"Hey, Max?" Al started. "How come you weren't able to heal me? You did touch my wound, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did," said Max suddenly becoming thoughtful. "Before Olly had fetched Madam Pomfrey, but it didn't work, I knew it as soon as I tried. Maybe I don't really have to power to convey."

"Or maybe you can't anymore because you are aware of your ability," suggested Olivia. "Like, you're thinking about it too hard."

Everyone in the back compartment enjoyed the sweets when the trolley rolled by. They did as much magic as they could (not being allowed to do magic outside of school), and they all talked as much Sugamina together as possible.

"It's going to be a busy summer," said Al, gripping the Marauder's book closer to his chest.

All too soon, the train screeched to a halt, and everyone looked at each other sadly as the corridor outside filled with loud students.

"Why are you all so sad?" Max asked. "We're going to see each other next semester and keep in touch until then, right?"

"Of course, but still," said Olly. "We're splitting the pact."

"We, have never been closer," said Rose gripping their hands. "Ready?"

Everyone nodded, and they burst from the compartment and bulldozed through the crowd until they fell onto platform 9 ¾. Rose hugged all of her friends tightly and tried not to cry. She spotted her parents through the gap in Scorpius' arms. Rose pulled away and started forward. She looked around the platform for anyone else she knew first. She had already said bye to her Quidditch team which was lucky, she feared trying now would take all afternoon. There were the Meriks in the distance, Teddy and Victoire, Draco and Astoria, and Illya. She couldn't make her way to him, he was too far, and any conversation would be awkward. They were in between good acquaintances and friends which was a rather odd place to be. He looked up and caught her eye this time. Even through the steam from the engine, she could still see his sparklingly blue eyes. Illya nodded at the person he was talking to and told him to hold on. Rose was surprised to find him making his way through the crowd toward her. She was at first tempted to run. But he pushed through. His blonde hair was curled atop his head and short on the sides. She smiled at her when approaching.

"Heading home, are you?" he asked.

"Just about," she replied.

"I do hope you have a good summer."

"Me too, but, I mean- for you," she stammered and shook her head as she always did when she stuttered.

He smiled for a moment before remembering something. "Right!" he said, pulling a muggle pen from his back pocket and taking a sticky note from the other. "Here, is, my… address," he muttered with the pen cap between his teeth. She tore the yellow note from the pad and handed it to her. "You can write it you want. If you ever need anything, I'm just an owl away."

"Thanks," she said, studying the address.

"Maybe we can meet up during the summer. I could show you how to do that dance from last night, uh, not that I think you need to learn. Your dancing was… well… it-"

"It was terrible," she laughed.

Illya smiled. "I was going to say it looked like you were having fun. Anyway, see you soon Rosie." He tapped her on the head with his pen and walked off.

Rose stood with the address in her hands and watching where he had gone. _What had just happened?_

"Rose!" She turned to see her parents waving her forward.

Rose started toward them and hugged her parents when meeting, though she had seen them multiple times this semester due to Al.

"Who was that boy?" asked Hermione with a skeptical smile.

"Just a friend," she replied. Rose started toward the brick divider back into the muggle platform when catching sight of Max. He was walking away with Bailey and Clent and was looking at Rose as he walked. Rose waved at him and clutched Illya's address in her fist, wondering if he had seen that; he didn't seem to like Illya very much, and Rose couldn't understand why. The steam consumed Max, and she turned away.

Rose stood before the brick divider and took a deep breath; she didn't want to go. She waited until Jennifer Hopps ran through the brick before starting herself. Rose ran at a haste and felt a ' _whoosh_ ' sensation sweep through her as she hit the divider, and she was back in the muggle world, ready to count the days until she was back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The End.


End file.
